He looked on course to chase eventual winner David Howell all the way to the finishing line until he lost the plot towards the end of the third day and fell back into the pack after a 74.
But worse was to follow as he littered his card with bogeys in a final round 78, posting a level par total thanks to an eagle on the last.
As he slumped to a share of 37th place, Howell finished 17 shots ahead of him to become the first home winner since Nick Faldo in 1989.
Howell won by five from fellow Englishman Simon Khan as Spaniard Miguel Angel Jimenez claimed third prize a shot further back.
PAINTER and decorator John Carroll papered over the cracks which appeared in his game in the final round of the Lancashire Amateur Championship at Clitheroe.
"I started to hit some wayward shots off the tee but I recovered well," said the 27-year-old plus-two handicapper from Huyton and Prescot.
He held his game together with a 76, which included three birdies on the last four holes, for a three-over-par total, winning by two shots from 16-year-old Ashton-under-Lyne player Matthew Nixon.
RISING Hazel Grove star Iain Davie, 17, became the youngest winner of the Cheshire Matchplay Championship when he beat Ashton-on-Mersey's Kevin Kean 2&1 in the final at Heswall.
MANCHESTER'S Rachel Connor, a former JJB Sports M.E.N. Women's champion, has been selected by England to play in the European Girls in Denmark in July.
ADAM Mitchell, from Swinton Park, won the Manchester Junior League Challenge Trophy at Chorlton with 68 off his 18 handicap as the host club's Jon Davie took the gross prize with 74.
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