Donald bursts to top with birdie run

GOLF DIGEST

GOLF DIGEST

US TOUR: England’s Luke Donald produced a spectacular burst of six consecutive birdies to surge into an early three-shot lead in the opening round at the Memorial tournament.

The double PGA Tour champion shrugged off a bogey at the par-four first to fire an eight-under-par 64 in the event hosted by Jack Nicklaus at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

Donald covered the back nine in a sizzling six-under 30 to end an overcast morning well ahead of his nearest challenger, American Jim Furyk (67).

READ MORE

But Pádraig Harrington continued his recent run of poor form to open with a three-over-par 75.

Bogeys at the second and fourth were cancelled out by birdies at five and six, but the Dubliner made the home journey with bogeys at the 13th, 14th and 17th.

He will need a big performance today to make the cut.

Donald, seeking his first PGA Tour victory since the 2006 Honda Classic, expected nothing special from his day until he holed a 15-foot putt from the fringe to birdie the par-three eighth.

“I guess all good rounds start with a bogey,” the smiling 31-year-old told reporters. “It was kind of a normal, every-day round until I got to the eighth and made a nice putt from the fringe there. That kind of sparked off a run of six birdies.”

Donald also birdied the ninth to reach the turn in two-under 34, before picking up further shots at the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

“I just got on a hot streak,” he said after needing only 20 putts to post his lowest round on the PGA Tour this season.

“Eight under through nine holes. That doesn’t happen very often, but when you get on that roll it feels pretty good. So I just kept going and made some birdies.”

Donald, who holed out with a wedge from 48 yards to collect his first birdie of the day at the par-four second, sank five putts between 10 and 25 feet.

“All year, I’ve been trying to focus on hitting more greens and hitting more fairways because I have been putting the ball well,” the Illinois-based professional said.

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE TOUR: Former Walker Cup star Noel Fox produced a fine opening score of four-under-par 68 to get in the hunt for the Karnten Golf Open.

Fox is just three shots off the early pacesetters Florian Fritsch of Germany and Spain’s Carlos Rodilles at the Golfclub Klagenfurt-Seltenheim, and level with Austria’s most successful player, Markus Brier, the double European Tour Champion who is promoting the €140,000 event through his foundation.

Fox made his score in the space of 10 holes, scoring six birdies and two bogeys from the fifth to the 14th to join Brier and another 18 players in a tie for 11th spot.

While Fox held his own amidst the Austrian Alps, his compatriots in the field struggled in the first round, with Alan Murray (75), Stephen Grant (76), Peter O’Keeffe (78), Mark Campbell (80) and Danny Sugrue (80) all facing a second-round battle to make the cut.