• The Tour Championship, Round One

Donald takes first step to historic double

Luke Donald's short game made up for some wayward driving during round one of The Tour Championship © Getty Images

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Luke Donald is three rounds away from becoming the first player to top both the PGA and European Tour money lists after a strong opening 18 holes at The Tour Championship in Atlanta.

In the final leg of the race for the FedEx Cup, which offers an $11.3 million first prize, Donald rose to the top of the projected standings after enjoying a better round than pre-tournament rivals Webb Simpson, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson. The Englishman carded a four-under-par 66 to settle in a tie for second place at East Lake Golf Club, trailing first-round leader Keegan Bradley by two strokes.

Donald is one of five players who can guarantee victory in the FedEx Cup by winning The Tour Championship over the next few days. He got off to the ideal start too, birdying the first hole of the day.

A bogey immediately followed at the second, but from that point onwards it was trademark Donald as he made over three quarters of greens in regulation, whilst completing 100 per cent of sand saves. The Brit accelerated around the turn, birdying holes eight, ten and 11, before picking up another shot at 15 to complete his four-under round.

Donald's compatriot Justin Rose will feel he should be resuming on a similarly positive score, after he threw away a good start to sign for a one-under 69. Rose birdied holes three and four, but by the turn he had wasted his good work with some frustrating approach play.

The Brit came into this week's event off the back of a dominant victory at the BMW Championship, which he led throughout most of the weekend. However, his confidence appeared to drain when, after a bogey at the seventh, he sent an approach to the ninth way over the back of the green - to his visible disgust. To his credit, Rose did turn things around after a late weather delay, holding his focus to birdie the 17th with his first shot upon resumption.

Bradley confirmed himself as Donald's main rival, for both the Tour Championship title and the overall FedEx Cup crown, after he fired his way to a two-stroke lead at the top of the leaderboard to move up to second in the projected money list standings.

The American looks set to resume his rivalry with Jason Dufner over the remaining three days after both enjoyed excellent first rounds. Bradley edged Dufner in a play-off for the 2011 PGA Championship earlier this year, but only after Dufner had let slip a five-shot lead with three holes to play.

Once again it is Bradley who currently has the edge over his compatriot, sweeping to a six-under 64 to move two ahead. The 25-year-old, who had not played a major before this year, displayed an excellent short game as he chalked up seven birdies en route to the top of the leaderboard.

"This is about as good as I've felt in a while," Bradley told Sky Sports. "I hit the ball really well today, and you have to because the rough is tough, so I'm happy."

Dufner actually managed to drive the ball longer than Bradley and required less strokes of the putter on the greens, but his accuracy off the tee was crippling, finding less than 30 per cent of fairways. Nevertheless, a four-under 66 sees Dufner position himself in a tie for second place alongside Chez Reavie and Donald.

A clutch of players sit behind the American on three-under, although nobody worked harder than Hunter Mahan. Faced with an awkward lie with his ball suspended directly above water, Mahan had to remove his socks and shoes to recover the situation - which he did successfully - at the expense of getting a soaked shirt.

He is joined on three-under by the likes of Adam Scott, Charles Howell III, Matt Kuchar and Jason Day.

One stroke further back is Phil Mickelson, who putted poorly to waste a host of birdie chances. The four-time major winner did manage to pick up three shots for the cost of one bogey, but 31 putts in a round is not the type of form that will win Mickelson the competition.

Steve Stricker joins Mickelson on two-under, while the pre-tournament FedEx Cup leader Webb Simpson bogeyed the last to fall to one-under.

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