Donald thunders into Sun City lead

England's Luke Donald opened up a two-shot lead at the Nedbank Golf Challenge on Thursday before thunderstorms brought a premature end to the first round at Sun City. Donald was top of the leaderboard on three under par after three holes before the first weather suspension hit the Gary Player Country Club. After a two and half hour delay, Donald continued where he had left off with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth to turn in five under par 31. Donald added pars on 10 and 11 before play was called off for the day as more storms arrived. "It doesn?t get much better than a three-three start around here," Donald told www.europeantour.com. "Birdie-eagle and all of a sudden you are three under par through two holes. I played solid for those first 11 holes and hit a couple of very nice shots in that time that I was able to take advantage of. I feel good over the ball right now and I am playing with confidence." Donald holds a two stroke lead over Denmark's Thomas Bjorn, Jamie Donaldson of Wales and Zimbabwean Brandon de Jonge. Defending champion Martin Kaymer is on two under, while Henrik Stenson's defence of his Race to Dubai crown got off to a solid start, with the Swede one under through seven holes. Source: AFP