Donald makes flying start

Luke Donald could not manage a single birdie playing with Tiger Woods on Sunday, but he began the Bridgestone world championship with three of them in Akron today.

Joint third in the United States PGA championship after his desperately disappointing closing 74 the 28-year-old, who now leads the European Ryder Cup table, pitched to four feet at the 10th and then holed from eight and 12 feet on the next two.

The fast start gave Donald a share of the early lead with American Tim Herron, who had shared the halfway lead with him in the final major of the season.

Donald now leads Europe’s Ryder Cup points race with only the BMW International in Germany to come, but Paul Casey is seventh and, knowing he cannot afford to relax just yet, had the perfect boost of an eight-foot opening birdie putt.

Ian Poulter’s hopes took two quick blows, however.

Needing a top seven finish this weekend to retain a hope of climbing into the automatic top 10 in Munich Poulter, ninth in Chicago on Sunday, did sink a birdie putt of nearly 18 feet at the first.

But two holes later a double bogey six went on his card and he followed that with a bogey.

First Poulter’s drive finished three inches in the rough and, rather than laying up short of the lake, he went for it and dumped the ball in.

Just off the fourth green in two he then came up nine feet short and by missing the putt dropped to two over and next-to-last place.

Defending champion Woods, paired with Paul McGinley, was among the later starters, as was world number two Phil Mickelson.