Golf: British trio lead the way

The European Tour rookie resumed the Madrid Masters at Real Sociedad today – his 25th birthday – sharing the lead with compatriot Jamie Donaldson and England's Luke Donald.

Donaldson has now clocked up 200 events on the circuit without winning, but Davies captured his first title in Morocco in March and has his sights on a second victory following his seven-birdie opening round of 65.

"I would love to win this week, although by no means am I getting ahead of myself," said the former Walker Cup amateur, who was a team-mate of Rory McIlroy in 2007.

It has already been a successful week for him. On Monday he took one of the 11 US Open spots on offer in the 36-hole qualifier at Walton Heath.

Before Pebble Beach, though, comes Celtic Manor next week and another chance to impress cup captain Colin Montgomerie, who knows having a Welsh player in his line-up would add to the atmosphere of the event over the same course in October.

Donald has another reason for wanting to come out on top in the Spanish capital after what happened at Wentworth on Sunday. He took seven on the penultimate hole of the BMW PGA Championship and lost by one to Simon Khan.

"I would love to have that drive (at the 17th) again, but I don't see the value in stewing over it," he said. "If I had planned a week off it might have been tougher, but you learn and you take the positives. You obviously gain confidence from being at the top of the leaderboard most of the week."

As if to hit back as well at all the headlines last week calling him 'Plod' – his brother started that – the Ryder Cup star made two superb eagles yesterday.

"I can't remember the last time I had two in a round. I don't think I've had one on the PGA Tour all year," said Donald, who almost holed his 275-yard approach to the monster 653-yard ninth and then hit another rescue club 253 yards to seven feet on the 16th.

"I'm never going to overpower a course and some people think I am a short hitter, but I hit it far enough to compete."