Martin Laird makes stuttering start to FedEx finale in Atlanta

Laird went to the turn in four-over 39 - six more than both Casey and Donald and three more than his playing partner, Phil Mickelson.

Lying ninth in the FedEx standings going into the final event of the play-off series, Laird dropped shots at the second and third holes before picking up his first birdie of the day at the fifth.

But the 27-year-old Scot then took a double-bogey 5 at the sixth, where he found the lake, before also dropping a shot at the eighth.

Casey, so disappointed not to be handed a Ryder Cup wild card by Europe captain Colin Montgomerie, and Donald, so relieved that he did get the captain's pick, were two-under par and just a stroke behind Australian Geoff Ogilvy.

In fifth place in the FedEx Cup standings, Casey knows that winning the tournament on Sunday would guarantee him the incredible 6.4million bonus that is destined for the overall champion.

His outward half even included a trip to the water on the dangerous short sixth, but he made up for that with birdies on the second, eighth and ninth.

Donald lies seventh on the points table, but if he wins the event on Sunday the overall jackpot will be his providing current top two Matt Kuchar and Johnson do not finish second to him. And neither of those outcomes were starting to look likely after Kuchar covered the first seven holes in two-over and playing partner Johnson found himself joint last at four-over par.

Donald made up for a bogey at the fifth with birdies on the third, seventh and ninth, where he converted his chance from almost 20 feet.

Justin Rose, the other Briton in the field, also found the lake at the sixth, but while Casey salvaged a 4 he, like Laird, ran up double-bogey 5 and, after 12 holes, was two-over par. Defending champion Mickelson needs a top-two finish to replace Tiger Woods - not playing this week - as the world's No 1 ranked golfer.

The left-hander looked to have ignited his round by holing his approach for an eagle 2 at the 12th but dropped back to level again after dropping a shot at the next.

Laird, who lost in a play-off to Kuchar in the Barclays Championship, the opening event in the series, was still four-over with four holes to play.

At that point, the Scot only had one player - US Ryder Cup rookie Jeff Overton - below him on the leaderboard in the 30-man field.

Kuchar, leading the FedEx standings, was two-over early in his round after missing fairways at the fourth and fifth holes.