Early birdies lift Donald

Luke Donald today finally found his putting touch in the third round of the £4.2m (€6.1m) American Express Championship.

Donald had been the model of consistency over the first two days in San Francisco, carding just one birdie, two bogeys and 33 pars to lie one over par at halfway.

Eighteen of those pars had come in his opening 70, prompting the Englishman to answer his phone with ‘Hello, this is Nick Faldo’ in reference to Faldo’s similar effort to win the Open at Muirfield in 1987.

But the Ryder Cup star eventually got to grips with the greens at Harding Park and birdied the 10th – his opening hole – and 13th to improve to one under par.

That was still six shots off the lead held by Colin Montgomerie, the 42-year-old Scot yet to begin his third round.

Montgomerie is one shot ahead of playing partners David Howell and John Daly, with world number one Tiger Woods another shot back on five under.

Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell had also picked up two early birdies to improve to three under alongside Thomas Bjorn and Paul McGinley, who were one under for their rounds so far.