Luke Donald stormed to the top of the leaderboard at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio on a day when Pádraig Harrington’s miserable run of form continued.

Donald produced a spectacular burst of six consecutive birdies to surge into an early three-shot lead, eventually signing for a eight-under-par 64 at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

In contrast Harrington bogeyed three of the last six holes for a 75 as he struggles to regain some semblance of form ahead of the US Open.

Donald covered the back nine in a sizzling six-under 30 to end an overcast morning well ahead of his nearest challenger, American Jim Furyk (67).

Seeking his first PGA Tour victory since the 2006 Honda Classic, Donald expected nothing special from his day until he holed a 15-foot putt from the fringe to birdie the par-three eighth.

"I guess all good rounds start with a bogey. It was kind of a normal every-day round until I got to the eighth and made a nice putt from the fringe there. That kind of sparked off a run of six birdies"

The Englishman also birdied the ninth to reach the turn in two-under 34 before picking up further shots at the 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 16th.

"I just got on a hot streak," he said after needing only 20 putts to post his lowest round on the PGA Tour this season. "Eight under through nine holes. That doesn't happen very often but when you get on that roll, it feels pretty good. So I just kept going and made some birdies."

Donald, who holed out with a wedge from 48 yards to collect his first birdie of the day at the par-four second, sank five putts between 10 and 25 feet.

"All year, I've been trying to focus on hitting more greens and hitting more fairways because I have been putting the ball well," said the 31-year-old. "I did a good job of giving myself some makeable putts today, which helped."