Los Angeles, April 17

Former world No 1 Luke Donald, hunting his first tournament victory since late 2013, ground out a two-under 69 in tough conditions to take a one-shot lead after the RBC Heritage third round in South Carolina on Saturday.

While the entire field endured their share of struggles contending with slick greens and blustery winds at the Harbour Town course on Hilton Head Island, Donald kept errors to a minimum as he edged ahead of a tightly bunched leaderboard. The Englishman mixed four birdies with two bogeys to post a seven-under total of 206, ending the round a stroke in front of Americans Charley Hoffman (71) and long-hitting Jason Kokrak (68).

Australian world No 1 Jason Day, joint leader overnight with Hoffman and fellow American Kevin Chappell, tumbled down the leaderboard with an eight-over 79 as he appeared to succumb to fatigue in his eighth event of the year.

Seven players held at least a share of the lead during a wildly fluctuating third round — Donald, Hoffman, Kokrak, Day, Chappell, Bryson DeChambeau and Russell Knox. Hoffman briefly stormed two ahead with a birdie-birdie start before he ended a topsy-turvy round with a bogey-bogey finish. Day never got his round back on track after running up a double-bogey at the par-four third where his tee shot found water.