Luke Donald fires 66 to share first-round lead at RBC Heritage

Luke Donald enjoyed the challenging conditions at one of his favourite venues as he earned a share of the first round lead at the RBC Heritage.

The Englishman, three times a runner-up at the Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, fired a commendable five-under 66 in blustery conditions on the South Carolina coast to take the early clubhouse lead on day one.

Donald's round was later matched by Branden Grace, while world No 1 Jason Day was in a group of four players one behind, although the Australian bogeyed the last to drop out of the tie at the top.

Donald came within inches of holing out for eagle at the second, and he rolled in a 15-foot putt for birdie at the next before a superb approach to a couple of feet from the rough at the sixth set up another gain.

A blocked drive at the eighth cost him his only bogey of the day, but he got back on track with excellent birdie putts at 11 and 13 before knocking his tee shot to five feet at the 17th and converting to get to five under par.

Donald came into the event ranked 92nd in the world after just one top-25 finish this season, and he said: "I do like this golf course. It's not a bomber's paradise, it's a positional golf course, a classic golf course with small greens and you have to scramble well.

"I have some good memories and good mojo here, so it's nice to continue that with a very solid round. I hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways. I felt that way I didn't have to work too hard to scramble, which at times you can around this place. But it was one of those good, solid rounds."

Grace birdied three of the first five holes and picked up another shot at the ninth to turn in 32, and he rolled in a 25-footer for birdie at 13 before pitching to four feet for another at 15, but he blotted his card after a poor drive at the next and parred in.

Day cruised to five under for the round after 17 holes and found the fairway at the last, but his approach came up short and plugged in a bunker, forcing him to take a penalty drop before he splashed out to six feet and holed the putt to limit the damage to a five.

"It was a tough break, it was a little bit unlucky, but I shouldn't have been in that bunker," Day told the PGA Tour afterwards. "It's unfortunate, but things happen."

Day shares third with Matt Kuchar, David Lingmerth and Tony Finau, while Bryson DeChambeau carded a solid one-under 70 in his first round among the professional ranks.

English pair Ian Poulter and Matt Fitzpatrick struggled to keep the mistakes off their cards as they returned 72s, but Paul Casey made three bogeys and one double-bogey in a 75.