BLACKBURN golfer Simon Townend smashed the course record with a sizzling six under par 65 in the first round of the De Vere Hotels PGA North Region Championship Heron's Reach yesterday.

But his hopes of taking the overnight lead in the £18,000 event he won four years ago, were shattered an hour later.

That's when 24-year-old Warrington Drive-Time assistant Freddy Valenti handed in 64 to dump Wilpshire-attached Townend into second place.

"I really thought I'd done enough but the conditions were easy so a lower score was always on the cards," said Townend after his six-birdie, bogey-free round.

Pleasington's Ged Furey, winner in 1995 and again two years later, was not out of the running with a 70 on a day when 55 players posted level par or better.

Par is the predicted cut mark, so Blackburn Driving Range's Jeff Mathews has some work to do today to make it after his opening 72.

Valenti meanwhile, passed on the credit to former Ryder Cup player Steve Richardson.

The player, born in Scotland and with Italian ancestry, explained: "I played with him in last week's Challenge Tour Championship at Bowood and kept losing my patience because my game was off."

First round leaders: 64 F Valenti (Drive-Time); 65 S Townend (Wilpshire); 67 M Archer (Roseberry Grange); 68 G Brand (Ilkley), M Jones (Bolton Open), R Wragg (Renishaw Park); 69 M Bradley (Keighley), N Cheetham (unatt), N Dunroe (Eaton), J Heggarty (Royal Liverpool), J Oates (Renishaw Park), D Padgett (Wetherby), R Giles (Romiley), T Maxwell (Mottram Hall), P Archer (Birchwood), G Winter (una tt), C Maroney (Heaton Park). Others: 70 S Taylor (Shaw Hill); 73 P McEvoy (Clitheroe) 75, S Eaton (Burnley).

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