SIMON Townend forfeited a five shot lead half-way through the third and final round of the £18,000 De Vere Hotels PGA North Region Championship at Heron's Reach yesterday.

Wilpshire-attached Townend, who teaches at Rishton Driving Range, had turned the tournament into a one-horse race after grabbing a hat-trick of birdies from the third to move to 12-under-par as joint overnight leader John Oates fell away.

Then two mistakes, plus some inspirational play from Renishaw Park's Robert Wragg, cost Townend the chance to win the title for the second time in four years.

He could afford to drop a shot at the 11th when he was still four ahead of the pack but, when he double bogeyed the testing 15th after tangling with the rough, the leaderboard took on a new appearance.

Wragg, only playing because he could not afford to compete on the Challenge Tour, had been putting together a birdie-laden round and, when he rolled in his third two of the day at the 16th, he was a shot ahead of Townend at 10-under-par.

And it stayed that way, despite Townend missing a 15-foot birdie chance at the 18th that would have put him into a play-off.

He had to settle for a share of second place after a closing 71 with Ellesmere's Blake Toone and Drive-Time's Freddy Valenti.

SCORES: 203 R Wragg (Renishaw Park) 68,69,66; 204 S Townend (Wilpshire) 65,68,71; F Valenti (Drive-time) 64,72,68, B Toone (Ellesmere) 70,67,67; 207 G J Brand (Baildon) 68,71,68

Selected: D Shacklady (Leisure Lakes) 70,72,69; 213 A Crompton (Haigh Hall) 70,73,70; 214 G Furey (Pleasington) 70,70,74; 215 S Taylor (Shaw Hill) 70,72,73; 217 P McEvoy (Clitheroe) 73,69,75.

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