Death, taxes, Lee Westwood finishing between T4 and T20 at the Masters and Luke Donald sniffing the lead at the RBC Heritage. All are locks. None can be thwarted.

Donald shot an opening-round 65 at the RBC Heritage on Thursday. It is a tournament where he has finished in the top three an incredible six (!) times but is still without a win. The Englishman opened with five birdies, an eagle and a bogey on Thursday but trails leader Bud Cauley by two.

"This place has been kind to me," Donald said afterwards. "Nice to get off to a great start."

In his eight appearances here, Donald's scores have looked like this (par is 71):

  • 65
  • 66
  • 71
  • 69
  • 71
  • 73
  • 66
  • 66
  • 70
  • 70
  • 69
  • 66
  • 69
  • 69
  • 68
  • 71
  • 69
  • 75
  • 69
  • 71
  • 71
  • 67
  • 65
  • 70
  • 70
  • 73
  • 70
  • 65
  • 66
  • 76
  • 71

That's a total of 54 under in nine RBC Heritages played or 1.74 under par per round. It is a preposterous number for anyone, but with Donald it has become commonplace on this course. 

"It's always nice to come back to places you feel comfortable and you've had success," Donald said on Thursday. "Obviously I've had a lot of success here in the last eight years. I've done everything but win. And it would be nice to give myself another chance to try and finally get over that hurdle."

In just the last six years, Donald has lost by one stroke, two strokes and in a playoff.

"It's a pure statistical sampling, the guys that can scramble well and have good course management," Donald said about a course that plays right around 7,000 yards. "It's not a course you need to be a long hitter. Certain holes it helps, obviously, but the long hitters, it's taking driver out of their hands a lot. So I feel like the playing field (is) leveled out."

That much is obvious. Non-bombers like Jim Furyk, Brandt Snedeker, Matt Kuchar and Graeme McDowell have won here over the years. And Donald obviously almost always contends. Still, he knows that as the wind picks up a little and the course dries out, he'll have to be on point with all aspects of his game to finally get that win at Harbour Town.

"It certainly will get firmer as the weekend goes," Donald said. "With the weather forecast, it's supposed to get a little tougher. So it's nice to get off to a good start."