WILPSHIRE professional Simon Townend propelled himself into the final stage of qualifying for next week's Open Championship with a hole-in-one yesterday.

Townend holed his five-iron at the par-three fourth at Ormskirk on his way to making it through from the regional qualifying stage.

He was joined by Ged Furey of Pleasington and Simon Eaton, head assistant at Burnley.

Furey fired a one-under 69 and Eaton finished alongside Townend on level par.

Townend, who played the Open at Royal Birkdale in 1991, will now head for Downfield in Scotland to play two qualifying rounds on Sunday and Monday in an effort to make it into the Open field at Carnoustie.

Fourteen players made it through from each regional venue and Townend was both delighted and relieved to be one of them - particularly after the hole-in-one.

"I would have looked pretty daft if I hadn't made it after that," he said. "I dropped a few shots after that but it was going into the hardest part of the course.

"I managed to settle down again and get it back and I was one-over at the turn and then came back one-under.

"When I got back in it was looking like a play-off but out of the last 35 to come in only one was on par or better." Eaton, previously assistant at Clitheroe, is heading for Montrose to try and make the cut for Carnoustie having survived a late scare yesterday.

He was three-under par as he stood on the 17th after making three birdies and 13 pars.

But the 23-year-old then three putted and double bogeyed the last after a miscued tee-shot left him needing to take a drop.

"I thought I had blown it, although before the start I always thought level-par would be enough," he said. Eaton will now have a breather before heading over the border to practice on Saturday.

But Townend and Fury are both in action again this week as they take part in the Leeds Cup at Oulton Park, the longest established professional event on the calendar.

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