Donald makes fast start in Augusta

The conditions were certainly right for Luke Donald to try to make a move through the field in The Masters at Augusta today – and he found a spectacular way to start doing precisely that.

The world number one had survived the halfway cut with only a stroke to spare on four over par, and also because nobody reached seven under.

When he resumed, Donald two-putted the difficult first for par, missed a birdie chance on the long next after coming up just short of the green with his second shot, but then pitched in for an eagle two on the 350-yard third.

It instantly moved him up from 47th to 33rd and gave him hope that it could be the special day he needed to have any chance.

As he continued many of the crowd were waiting on the first hole for Tiger Woods teeing off at 10:45am.

After a second-round 75 full of errors he was three over and eight adrift of leaders Fred Couples and Jason Dufner – and practised not just until it was dark last night, but after it was dark.

Woods had birdied only one out of eight par fives on the first two days - and that became one out of nine as he missed the second green, chipped over the bunker to 10 feet and missed.

He had been relieved not to drop a shot at the first. Off a good drive he went right again – that was his big problem yesterday – but holed from nine feet.

Woods then birdied the third for the third day in a row, however, to be two over, one better than Donald, who had bogeyed the 455-yard fifth.