Loren Roberts wins the GTE Byron Nelson Classic, bah, humbug . . . I suppose it had to happen sometime and that occasion was always going to be when this writer had not bothered to back him, having lost a small fortune following his fortunes in the past.

Since he lost a play-off to Ernie Els for the 1994 US Open I have occasionally invested in his prowess in majors with catastrophic results and eventually gave up on the 43-year-old Californian, principally because of one faux pas at the US Masters.

I can't quite pin down which year - the catalogue of failure has taken a heavy toll on the grey matter - but at one US Masters, the man with the sobriquet, Boss of the Moss, so called for his wonderful putting touch actually four putted the first green at Augusta on the opening day. Mind you I should have appreciated that the portents for improvement were there this season when one considers that a wayward drive at this year's Masters actually picked out his wife Kimberly among the thousands of spectators and fortuitously avoided plunging deeper into trouble as a result of the contact.

Last weekend he spreadeagled the elite with rounds of 66, 66, 62, 68 for an 18 under par total and a cheque for $540,000.

Roberts, who turned professional in 1975, has six PGA tour victories to his name, the Nestle Invitational (1994,'95), MCI Classic (1996), Greater Milwaukee Open (1996), the CVS Charity Classic (1997) and the GTE Byron Nelson Classic (1999).

Those who now covet Roberts in their fantasy golf side will be interested to know that he has five top 10 finishes this season and has earned official prize money of $904,870: he is second on the tour in terms of driving accuracy, leads the scoring averages in the third round at tournaments and is second in the stats for his performances at par threes. Of less interest is that I failed to win a single penny when backing him.