Donald displays new-found resolve

Luke Donald, beaten by Tiger Woods by seven shots the last time they played together in a major, underlined the massive strides he has made in two years when the US Open began at Pinehurst today.

A one-under-par 69 tucked Donald in just behind the leaders, while Masters champion Woods had to be content with a level-par 70 which owed a fair bit yet again to his powers of recovery.

Americans Rocco Mediate and Olin Browne – the player who scored 59 in qualifying last week – set the clubhouse target with 67s, while Lee Westwood led the European challenge at two under with two to play. Alongside him in joint third place were defending champion Retief Goosen and South Korean KJ Choi.

Chris DiMarco, the third member of Donald’s group and the player beaten in a play-off by Woods for the Masters and by Vijay Singh at the US PGA last August, returned a 71, as did world number three Ernie Els.

Woods, like DiMarco, was wayward from the start, but was still able to pick up where he left off at Augusta in April – with a birdie.

His opening drive missed the fairway on the right for the first of several times, but also missed the tangly rough and finished on a sandy path.

Just off the green in two at the 607-yard hole, he then chipped to 12 feet and made the putt. But coming up short of the green on the short 15th and finding the rough at the next led to bogeys before he came back with a fine bunker shot to within three feet of the flag at the 565-yard fourth.

Donald, who had to back off from a putt as early as the 12th because of clicking cameras aimed at Woods, almost holed his pitch to the 13th, but then stuttered as well.

He found the left rough at the 16th before chipping over the green and then three-putted the next for another bogey. Unflappable by nature, though, he birdied the first and fourth and came back from another dropped shot at the fifth with another birdie on the eighth.

England’s Jonathan Lomas, who earned a debut by finishing joint first in the first European qualifier at Walton Heath last week, was level par with five to play, but bogeyed the 14th and 18th for a 72.

In the first group off at 7am the Ayrshire-based player commented: “I was up at 5.30, but my wife had to get me up. I wanted to stay in bed.”

Three over after six he battled back superbly with birdies at the ninth, 11th and 13th, but could not keep it going. “Play a loose shot and this course bites you,” he added.

Lomas was paired with Rory Sabbatini, the South African who made an apology to American Ben Crane on Monday after making his own protest about slow play the day before.

Sabbatini stormed ahead of Crane, who finished runner-up in the Booz Allen Classic, and played out of turn off the final tee.

He was booed onto the green there and said after his own 72 today that there had been comments made to him from the crowd this week.

“They’re obviously narrow-minded and have not paid attention to what’s going on,” he commented.

Liverpool’s Nick Dougherty, like Lomas playing his first US Open, was putting for eagle at his very first hole, the 10th, but three-putted it. A 72 was no mean start for the 23-year-old, though.

Ian Poulter, Paul Casey and Simon Dyson were the two early Europeans really struggling. They turned in 41, 42 and 40 respectively and Poulter was involved in animated conversation with an official after missing a short putt for par on the first.

He did not tap in for bogey until the exchange was over and the official stated that Poulter had queried how the hole had been cut, but he had inspected it and ruled it okay. The Ryder Cup player, falling to seven over, was clearly not happy.