Luke Donald and Ian Poulter boost chances of staying on in FedExCup Play-offs

Luke Donald needs a top-11 finish to stay in the FedExCup

Luke Donald and Ian Poulter look primed to extend their FedExCup campaigns after both fired excellent four-under 67s in the first round of the Deutsche Bank Championship in Boston.

The English pair both needed a strong performance in Boston to qualify for the BMW Championship at Conway Farms in Illinois, where Donald is a member, and they got off to encouraging starts as they ended the day in a share of second - two shots behind Brendon de Jonge.
In-form Jason Day faltered over the last third of his round but still managed to return a 68, while world No 1 Rory McIlroy bogeyed his last two holes to hand in a disappointing 70.

Donald, needing to finish no worse than 11th to guarantee a place in the third event of the play-offs, looked in fine touch as he carded six birdies and two bogeys to claim the early clubhouse lead before being surpassed by De Jonge.
"It was a good solid start," said the former world No 1. "Scoring was tougher today than in previous days but it was a good solid round and I'll take it.
"I got very fortunate at 13 when my tee shot hit one of those rocks and rebounded into the 12th fairway. Those kind of things are really good for momentum but other than that, I hit a lot of good swings and made some puts when I needed to.
"I would love to continue, but first things first. I've got to get to Conway Farms."
Poulter bounces back
Poulter missed the cut by a distance at The Barclays last week to slip to 69th in the FedExCup standings, with only the top 70 qualifying for the BMW Championship in a fortnight.
But the Ryder Cup star got some momentum flowing with a run of three birdies in four holes from the fourth, and he followed with 10 straight pars before capping a flawless round with a birdie at the last.
Henrik Stenson, runner-up in New Jersey last week, opened with a roller-coaster 67 that featured only six pars as he mixed eight birdies with four bogeys.
Rickie Fowler is one of five Americans among the logjam on four under, with PGA champion Day a further shot back after bogeys at two of his last five holes that took the gloss off his opening day.
But De Jonge upstaged the big names with a superb 65, starting with a birdie at the 10th which he followed with further gains at 15 and 16.
The Zimbabwean added two more immediately after the turn and though he gave one shot back straight away, he birdied the fifth and holed out from 15 feet on the ninth to finish his round in style.
"I'm more shocked than anything else," the 35-year-old said. "It's been a rough stretch of golf for the last couple of months so to shoot something like this was a pleasant surprise."
Matt Kuchar and Open champion Zach Johnson were among those at two under, with Phil Mickelson a further shot back alongside McIlroy.
Mickelson needs an eye-catching performance to impress Presidents Cup captain Jay Haas, who names his two wild card selections on Tuesday for the contest against the Internationals next month.
"It was the most challenging I've seen this golf course play, especially given that the greens were very receptive," Mickelson said. "But I played pretty good golf today. I hit a lot of good shots and I hit a few bad ones, but they weren't too bad. And it was an OK start."
FIRST ROUND SCOREBOARD
PAR 71