Donald Leads RBC Heritage Gold Tourney

Missing the Masters made Luke Donald's blood boil. The former world No. 1 channeled that anger to shoot his best round since January, a 5-under 66 at the RBC Heritage that left the Englishman tied with Branden Grace for the first-round lead Thursday.

The two were a stroke ahead of four players, including the world's current top-ranked player in Jason Day.

Day caught Donald and Grace at the top heading to Harbour Town Golf Links' closing, lighthouse hole. But he took an unplayable lie in a bunker when his ball bored into the sand and made his lone bogey to fall back.

Donald had been a major tournament mainstay since first playing Augusta National in 2005. However, he has fallen badly the past couple of seasons (he's 95th in the world ranking) and was forced to watch the Masters at home instead of playing for a green jacket.

Donald shared his frustration on social media, posting on Instagram that not playing the major "quite frankly, it makes my blood boil."

So Donald turned things around at one of his favorite layouts in Harbour Town Golf Links, posting his best score in three months since consecutive 65s at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"I feel like I've got a few good years ahead of me," the 38-year-old Donald said. "I don't want to be sitting at home watching the majors on TV yet."