• Tour Championship

Casey and Donald make early plays in Atlanta

Paul Casey is doing a good job of putting his Ryder Cup heartbreak behind him © Getty Images

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Paul Casey and Luke Donald moved a step closer to the richest prize in golf after the pair made confident starts to the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

In the final event of the FedEx Cup play-off series, the two Englishman carded four-under-par rounds of 66 to share the early lead with Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

Casey, who was controversially omitted from Colin Montgomerie's European Team for the Ryder Cup in October, would love nothing more than to show the Scot what he will be missing in Wales and scoop the £7.2 million jackpot to ease the pain of missing out on selection.

The BMW Championship runner-up is currently fifth in the cup standings and, should he win at the East Lake Golf Club, then no matter what anyone else does he will be crowned the FedEx Cup champion. Casey was the only player among the top five in the standings who broke par so he has stolen a march on his closest rivals with three rounds to play.

"I'm very happy with that," he said. "This is a course which if you play a couple under par every day you are going to put yourself in a wonderful position."

Only nine players in the 30-man field broke par, including defending champion Phil Mickelson. 'Lefty' was typically inconsistent, making two eagles, along with four bogeys in a round of 69. Mickelson needs a top two finish to take overtake Tiger Woods at the top of the rankings - with this tournament providing him with the 12th chance this year to become the world No. 1.

Donald must win and hope that the American duo of Matt Kuchar and Dustin Johnson do not finish immediately behind him. The omens look good as neither player hit their straps. Kuchar hit four bogeys, although an eagle saved his round from completely falling apart as he signed for a 72. Johnson, however, has even more ground to make up after he mixed the sublime with the ridiculous on his way to a 73, leaving him seven shots adrift of the leaders.

The good news for Donald is that he seems to have the measure of the course. He struck six birdies and if he can iron out the careless mistakes which saw him drop two shots, he has a great chance to be there or thereabouts come Sunday.

"It's early days," he said. "Anything can happen - but it's nice to position yourself. The course is firm and fast and that makes it play difficult, but if I could do the same the next three days I would take it right now."

Martin Laird is in joint last place after a catastrophic five-over par 75. Justin Rose only fared one shot better, as the Englishman's consistency evaded him. After a sluggish start he mounted something of a fight back only to ruin much of his recovery work with some loose shots.

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