Golf:Luke Donald quickly recovered from his disappointment at missing out on the world number one spot last weekend with an encouraging first day at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The 33-year-old Englishman lost out in a play-off to Brandt Snedeker at The Heritage last Sunday, meaning compatriot Lee Westwood regained top ranking with German Martin Kaymer dropping down.
Donald birdied the par-five second at TPC Louisiana and also picked up a shot at the fifth, and consecutive birdies on the last two holes ensured he finished four under par for the day in a group of players tied for ninth. He was two shots behind joint leaders Bubba Watson of the United States and Australian Matt Jones.
The 32-year-old Watson, already a winner this year at the Farmers Insurance Open in California in January, stormed into contention for a third career PGA Tour title, although his round began in inauspicious fashion as he bogeyed the par-four first.
His form picked up with four birdies on the front nine and he followed that up with a birdie at 10, an eagle at the par-five 11th and another birdie at 16, with a bogey at 14 leaving him six under par.
He was joined on that mark by Jones, the 31-year-old Sydney-born player firing eight birdies against two bogeys.
Six players were in a tie for third at five under par, including 2001 Open champion David Duval.
Reigning US Open champion Graeme McDowell carded three double bogeys to finish one over par for the day while England's Justin Rose was a further four shots back on the leaderboard.
Collated first-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72):
66Bubba Watson, Matthew Jones (Aus)
67John Rollins, Joe Durant, David Duval, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Tommy Gainey
68Jason Dufner, K J Choi (Kor), Luke Donald (Eng), Matt Bettencourt, Charles Howell III, Webb Simpson
69Ben Crane, Charley Hoffman, Billy Mayfair, Hunter Haas, Joseph Bramlett, Josh Teater
70Steve Stricker, Vaughn Taylor, John Senden (Aus), Ryan Palmer, David Toms, Martin Piller, D.A. Points, Alexandre Rocha (Bra), Charlie Wi (Kor), David Mathis, Marc Turnesa, Rickie Fowler
71Nick Watney, Brian Gay, David Hearn (Can), Chris Couch, John Mallinger, Chez Reavie, Will MacKenzie, Chris Tidland, Brandt Jobe, Jason Bohn, Brian Davis (Eng), Peter Tomasulo, Lee Janzen, Fabian Gomez (Arg), Brad Faxon, George McNeill, DJ Brigman, Camilo Villegas (Col), Troy Matteson, D.J. Trahan
72Aron Price (Aus), Colt Knost, Tag Ridings, Phil Schmitt, Peter Hanson (Swe), Shaun Micheel, Billy Horschel, Brendon De Jonge, Pat Perez, Tim Herron, Bobby Gates, Chris DiMarco, Greg Chalmers (Aus), Kevin Streelman, Steve Elkington (Aus), Jeff Maggert, J J Henry, Richard S Johnson (Swe), Robert Allenby (Aus), Andres Romero (Arg), Cameron Tringale
73Scott Stallings, Paul Stankowski, Jeff Overton, Jim Renner, Steven Bowditch (Aus), Kevin Sutherland, James Driscoll, Blake Adams, Jeff Klauk, Dean Wilson, Briny Baird, Stephen Ames (Can), Chris Stroud, Graeme McDowell (NIrl), John Merrick, Kyle Stanley, Steve Flesch, Fred Funk, Michael Connell, Keegan Bradley, Michael Allen, Scott Gutschewski
74Spencer Levin, Michael Bradley, Woody Austin, Harrison Frazar, Vijay Singh (Fij), Tim Petrovic, Boo Weekley, Shane Bertsch, Scott McCarron, Michael Sim (Aus), Rodney Pampling (Aus), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Michael Thompson, Sung-hoon Kang (Kor), Jarrod Lyle (Aus), Troy Merritt
75Kris Blanks, Nate Smith, Will Strickler, Michael Putnam, Sam Saunders, Scott Piercy, Alex Prugh, Chad Collins, Matthew Every, Ryuji Imada (Jpn)
76Chris Riley, Justin Hicks, Zack Miller, Joe Ogilvie, William McGirt, Ben Martin, Bob Estes, Kevin Stadler, Duffy Waldorf, Bio Kim (Kor), Scott Gordon, Bryce Molder, Daniel Summerhays, Kevin Kisner, Jim Herman
77Kevin Chappell, Tom Pernice Jnr., Christopher Baryla (Can), Jim Carter, Carl Paulson, Nathan Green (Aus), Justin Leonard, Justin Rose (Eng), Rich Beem, Brandt Snedeker
78Sean O'Hair, Matt Mcquillan (Can)
79Andres Gonzales, Jerry Kelly, Cameron Percy (Aus)
80David Bradshaw
81John Daly, Craig Bowden
82Andrew Loupe
WD: Alex Cejka (Ger) 74
