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Donald and Casey in share of lead

GOLF: PAUL CASEY and Luke Donald began the Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday with four-under-par opening rounds of 66 to…

Fri Sept 24 2010 - 01:00

GOLF:PAUL CASEY and Luke Donald began the Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday with four-under-par opening rounds of 66 to keep their hopes of a €8.5 million payday very much alive.

Casey, so disappointed not to be handed a Ryder Cup wild card, and Donald, so relieved he was, shared the lead with Australian Geoff Ogilvy. who finished with a 66.

At fifth in the standings of the FedEx Cup play-off series – this is the final leg – Casey knows that winning the tournament on Sunday will guarantee him the incredible €7.5 million bonus to the overall champion.

Donald lies seventh on the points table, but if he wins the event on Sunday the overall jackpot will be his, providing top two Matt Kuchar and Zach Johnson do not finish second to him.

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And neither of those was starting to look likely, with Kuchar covering 14 holes in three over and playing partner Johnson finding himself on the same mark.

Donald made up for a bogey at the fifth with birdies on the third, seventh and ninth, where he holed from almost 20 feet.

Justin Rose and Martin Laird also found the lake at the sixth, but while Casey salvaged a four they ran up double bogey fives and after 12 and 11 holes respectively were four over and five over.

Laird was partnering defending champion Phil Mickelson, who needs a top-two finish to replace Tiger Woods – not playing this week – as world number one. He finished his first round with a one under 69.

Casey and Donald birdied the 10th from 45 and 10 feet and they were alone out in front on three under when Ogilvy ran up a six on the long 15th, the easiest hole on the course.

However, Ogilvy’s playing partner Jim Furyk birdied it and that made it a three-way tie at the top again.

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP (at East Lake GC, Atlanta, Georgia, par 72) – Early first round scores: 66 – G Ogilvy (Aus), L Donald (Eng), P Casey (Eng).; 67 – J Furyk (US); 68 – KJ Choi (Kor); 69 – Phil Mickelson (US); K Na (US), H Mahan (US); 70 – K Streelman (US), R Moore (US), T Clark (SA); 71 – R Allenby (Aus), N Watney (US), B Crane (US), R Goosen (SA); 73 – C Villegas (Col); 74 – B Van Pelt (US), Z Johnson (US), R Palmer (US), J Rose (Brit), A Scott (Aus); 75 – J Overton (US), B Watson (US), Martin Laird (Scot).