Matt Blackey continued his determined push for full European PGA status next year with a battling first round in the Formby Hall Challenge yesterday.

The Hayling Islander, who is coached by Tim Barter at Botley Park, moved within two shots of the lead in a tournament he knows can shape his destiny.

Blackey is currently seventh in the Challenge Tour rankings but he needs another good finish, maybe even two, to keep his place in the top 15 who gain exemption on to the main European Tour next year.

There's a mix of main tour, Challenge Tour and EuroProTour players in the Formby Hall field, but Blackey made an early bid for the lead after starting at the tenth and birdieing the 12th, 15th and 16th holes.

Steve Richardson, Blackey's neighbour in Hayling Island, almost kept pace with two early birdies but both men fell away, Richardson to the extent that he'll be hard pressed to make the cut.

Blackey gave shots back at the first and second holes to slip to one under, but got his act together again, parred his way to the ninth and picked up a shot there to finish at two under - two behind the leaders who included Englishman Michael Archer.

But things went from bad to worse for former Ryder Cup man Richardson, who went into the tournament on the back of encouraging second place in the recent Southern PGA Championships.

A run of six bogies, broken by his third birdie of the day at the second, left Richardson three over - the same score as Brokenhurst Manor's Martin Le Mesurier, who after a rocky start got back to one over only to bogey two of his last three holes.

Le Mesurier is currently third in the EuroProTour rankings after taking four second places this summer.

The big European Tour event of the week, the Omega European Masters in Switzerland, saw another good day for the revital-ised Nick Faldo, who was a long time leader at five under until Sweden's Robert Karlsson came in late in the day to overtake him.

Southampton's Richard Bland, playing with Seve Ballesteros, managed two birdies in his back nine for a round of 74 - two over and two better than the great man.