However, DiMarco went to the turn in 33 and, with Donald out in 37, he held a four-stroke lead over Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn, who burst into contention with eagles at the 13th and 15th.

Play had been suspended for the day at lunchtime yesterday and when Howell returned to the 18th green – his ninth – the ball-marker he had left there was gone.

The spot had to be agreed with his two playing partners and to a loud cheer from his father, one of 11 family and friends staying with him for the week and helping to relax him, Howell made the seven-footer for a brilliant back nine 31, only two off the Masters record.

He saved a good par on the first after missing the green, but the first of the three-putts cost him a six at the 575-yard second and after making a 12-footer on the next to return to five under he slipped up on the seventh and eighth greens as well.

The short sixth was interesting. Howell was on the green, but because of the contours of the wickedly sloping green he chose a wedge rather than putter and salvaged his par.

“That was a bit nerve-wracking,” he said.

“My worst shot was my lob wedge to the eighth. It didn’t get it far enough - a schoolboy error, as they say.

“All my birdies came in one fell swoop yesterday (five in seven holes), but you can’t knock a 69 here any day. It’s a good round, but I just need to the cut the silly mistakes out.”

Howell’s presence on the leaderboard had suddenly – and bizarrely – got Swedish television interested.

That was because in his Friday press conference he was asked where was from and he replied: “Swindon in England.” However, that was transcribed as “Sweden and England”.

With Jesper Parnevik, Fredrik Jacobson and Joakim Haeggman struggling a Swedish television producer asked what Howell’s connection was and had to have the error pointed out to him.

DiMarco, joint third round leader with Phil Mickelson last April and loser of a play-off to Vijay Singh for the US PGA championship four months later, birdied both par fives on the front nine, the second and eighth, and then added another on the ninth to charge clear.

Donald, dressed in green shirt and bright orange trousers, went over the fourth green and was bunkered at the sixth for bogeys that dropped him alongside Howell, Mickelson, Singh and American amateur champion Ryan Moore in third place.

But just on their heels was Tiger Woods, who after a scrappy opening 74 birdied the second, third, ninth and 11th to climb into a share for eighth.

This time last year Bjorn was “fighting demons” and shot 80-77, but his two eagles were back of a back nine 33 and he remained four under with six to play.

Singh was playing behind Mickelson again the day after their spat over spike marks on a green.

The Fijian spoke to officials yesterday and they then approached Mickelson on the course to see if he was the culprit.

No problem was found with the left-hander’s spikes, but he took umbrage at the way it was handled and confronted Singh back in the locker room when play was suspended.

“I was extremely distracted and would have appreciated if it would have been handled differently or after the round,” said Mickelson in a statement after the story leaked out.

“On the 13th hole two officials approached me at two different times. They were sent by Vijay to check my spikes because he felt they were unduly damaging the greens.

“After sitting in the locker room for a while I heard Vijay talk to other players about it and I confronted him.

“He expressed his concerns. I expressed my disappointment with the way it was handled. I believe everything is fine now.”

Mickelson lost ground with a bogey at the 11th, but birdied the 15th and 16th to get back in the thicks of things, while Singh, joint second after his opening 68, rattled off nine pars in a row before bogeying the first.

The other member of golf’s “Big Four”, Ernie Els, was down on two over with eight to go.

The halfway cut was looking likely to fall at around three over and Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia, Europe’s leading two players in the world rankings, were not certain to make it into the final 36 holes either.

Harrington had double-bogeyed the 11th yesterday and bogeys at the 14th, 16th and 18th meant he turned in 41 and five over. The Dubliner then dropped another at the fifth.

Garcia was already five over after an opening 77 and double-bogeys at the 10th and 18th put him seven over.

Darren Clarke, partnering Woods, was another struggling. He bogeyed the fourth and seventh, then ran up a seven on the long ninth to be out in 40 and when he bogeyed the 10th he was five over as well.

Ian Poulter turned in 37 and remained one over with three to play, but Ian Woosnam and British amateur champion Stuart Wilson were already heading out. Woosnam’s two 78s put him 12 over and Wilson, the 27-year-old Scot, had a second successive 82 for 20 over.