RBC Heritage updates: Luke Donald leads, Jason Day gives chase

Luke Donald, who has five top-three finishes at the RBC Heritage Presented by Boeing but no victories, positioned himself to contend again, firing a 66 Thursday at Harbour Town Golf Links. He is tied with Branden Grace at 5-under after the first round of South Carolina’s only PGA Tour event.

Also in the hunt is Jason Day, the first golfer ranked No. 1 in the Offical World Golf Rankings to play the Heritage since Donald in 2012. He shared the lead for a while, but his approach shot to the iconic 18th hole plugged in a bunker and led to the only bogey of his round.

Day is in a four-way tie for for third at 4-under. Also carding 67s were 2014 champion Matt Kuchar and Sweden’s David Lingmerth, who shared the lead at 5-under for five holes. They were joined by Tony Finau, who on his final hole of the day — the 332-yard, par-4 ninth — drove the green and rolled in a 4-foot putt for eagle.

Bryson DeChambeau, the low amateur in last week’s Masters, made his professional debut today and was 1-under through 15 holes.

Donald was the world’s top-ranked player for a while in 2012 but has since fallen to No. 95 and did not qualify for last week’s Masters. He said swing changes designed to give him more distance off the tee not only failed, they took practice time from his once-excellent short game.

“I think just in general, it’s been a tough couple of years for me,” Donald said after a round of six birdies and one bogey. “I certainly feel like my game isn’t very far away, but the results certainly haven’t matched what I think I’m capable of.”

David Toms, a former PGA champion, was briefly tied for the lead during his morning round, but a bogey-bogey finish dropped him to 2-under 69.

“Yeah, when I teed off, I was freezing, the wind was howling, you couldn’t really see, your eyes were watering,” said Toms, playing Harbour Town for just the second time since 2009. “Now it looks like these guys this afternoon might catch a break. It’s unfortunate for the guys this morning because it was pretty tough.”

Indeed, Lingmerth, Grace and Kevin Chappell all streaked to fast starts after teeing off in the afternoon. However, Chappell, who also had a brief share of the lead at 5-under after birdies at Nos. 11 and 12, fell back again with a bogey at the par-4 13th. He also bogeyed the 18th hole and settled for a 68, along with seven other golfers at 3-under as play was winding down Thursday.

Grace took the solo lead at 6-under with a birdie at the par-5 15th late in the afternoon. However, he gave the shot back immediately with a bogey at the par-4 16th, where the golfers turn into the teeth of the wind across Calibogue Sound. He needed a 6-footer to save par on the 18th and complete his round of 66.

Lingmerth, in the same group as Grace, played the front nine in 31 strokes but fell back after catching the leader with a bogey at the par-3 14th.

Day seeks his 10th PGA Tour win and distance between himself and Jordan Spieth, who is No. 2 in the world ranking and taking the week off. He was steady Thursday until his approach on 18 plugged under the lip of a greenside bunker. He declared an unplayable lie and suffered his only bogey.

Updates from the course:

More Heritage information:

This story was originally published April 13, 2016 at 5:32 PM with the headline "RBC Heritage updates: Luke Donald leads, Jason Day gives chase."