Chapman gives up bid to win place.

After 83 holes of the nearest thing golf has to a torture chamber, Roger Chapman could take no more pain yesterday ( and abandoned his bid to win back a place on the European Tour.

Having taken eight and nine on successive holes midway through the fifth of six rounds at the qualifying school in San Roque, southern Spain, the 45-year-old walked off the course.

It was something he came close to doing on the opening day last Thursday, but he was given words of encouragement then by former England football star Trevor Francis and battled his way back into position to be among the 35 survivors.

That all went up in smoke, however, when he crashed from 11 over par to 20 over in the space of 20 horrible minutes. Six over is the likely magic number come the end of the marathon and he saw no point in carrying on.

Committee man Chapman, who four seasons ago ended an 18-year wait for his first tour win, would normally be facing a pounds 250 fine for quitting in such circumstances, as would committee chairman Jamie Spence, who pulled out after the third round on Saturday.

But tournament director Mike Stewart said: "In a perfect world we would not want people walking off because it disrupts the flow, but there is no penalty because the tour sees this as a unique week.

"If someone decides to retire or withdraw it only affects them and potentially benefits the rest. It's swings and roundabouts ( if he was not playing well maybe he did his partners a favour by getting out of the way.

"It's such a big week. He came to see me and said he had had enough."

Both Chapman and Spence will now need to seek sponsor's invitations to compete regularly next year.

England's Simon Wakefield and Frenchman Francois Delamontagne continue to top the leaderboard, both adding 69s for nine under par totals of 351 which put them four clear of Swede Peter Gustafson.

Wakefield is the Newcastle-under-Lyme player on whom stablemate Lee Westwood placed a bet at the start of the event. He has recovered well from the disappointment of missing the last three halfway cuts.