Donald and Howell revel in a world of their own

A 59 is a magical number whatever the format, a fact acknowledged by Luke Donald's uncharacteristic show of emotion on the last green here as his tricky eight-footer gave England the start they had targeted to launch their World Cup defence in style.

"We talked about 59 being gettable in our practice round," said Donald's team-mate, David Howell, who is in the epicentre of such a purple patch at the moment he can mention breaking 60 without so much as a blush. After humbling one Tiger Woods in Shanghai last week, the 30-year-old from Swindon set off at the Victoria Club De Golfe here yesterday with the mortals of this planet in his sights as the birdies arrived almost as quickly as the euros in his rapidly swelling bank account.

"After six holes I was thinking that things can't get any better than this," said the new world No 13 about a beginning which comprised four birdies, an eagle and some impostor known as par. "But then I started to play slightly not as well, shall we say, so it was enjoyable while it lasted."

Indeed, when Donald's your partner and the game is better-ball then the enjoyment can seem never-ending. "Yeah, we did 'ham and egg,' rather nicely," said Donald, dipping into golfing vernacular to describe how his run of three birdies up to the ninth arrived just when Howell had been struck by a nasty bout of the pars. Another red number duly turned up for Howell on the 10th, though, meaning England were, incredibly, 10-under through as many holes.

"We had so much momentum on our side then, that we thinking we could birdie every hole," admitted Donald. But golf is rarely so compliant, a truth the rest of the field was mighty glad of when the skids slowed England's charge sufficiently to ensure that three birdies from the 15th onwards saw them home in only 13 under.

That was still one too good for the Australians, Mark Hensby and Peter Lonard, and more intriguingly the Indians, Arjun Atwal and Jyoti Randhawa, who highlighted the ever-improving quality of the subcontinent game with a blemish-free 60. "You know, we do have about 100,000 golfers in our country," said the American based Atwal. "But out of a billion that's not very many, I suppose."

In contrast, Wales have only three million, so in purely demographic terms can be classified as performing above their station here as Stephen Dodd and Bradley Dredge took joint-fourth alongside Sweden after a 61.

It was not all smiles for the duo, however as John Pates - the sports psychologist who Dredge credits with effecting his remarkable upturn in form this year - was yesterday banned for three months after being involved in a fracas with a caddie in a Shanghai hotel last week.

Rick Brand used to carry Dredge's bag and is alleged to have accused Pates, the only qualified sports psychologist on Tour, of getting him the sack in a heated argument. Pates claims Brand advanced towards him in a "threatening manner" and that he was acting "merely in self-defence" when punching him. "It's so embarrassing," said Pates. "People will say that as a psychologist I should be able to control my emotions. I don't know if I'll ever return to the Tour. I may just go back to lecturing." Brand refused to comment, having earned himself an undisclosed fine for his pains.