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Published: Friday April 17, 2009 MYT 9:09:00 AM
Updated: Friday April 17, 2009 MYT 9:12:07 AM

Golf: Alex Cejka leads Verizon Heritage

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, South Carolina (AP) - Alex Cejka shot his lowest score in nearly two years with a 7-under 64 to lead the Verizon Heritage on Thursday.

The German was a stroke in front of two-time U.S. Open winner Lee Janzen and two ahead of last year's Masters winner, Trevor Immelman.

Two-time defending champion Boo Weekley opened with a 69 and was five shots off the lead.

Cejka's bogey-free performance was capped by a 47-foot putt for birdie on the difficult, wind-swept 17th hole.

That left him with his first first-round lead since 2006.

"Just hopefully, everything stays well and I get healthy and practice hard," said Cejka, who missed more than three months last year because of neck surgery.

Cejka felt pain at the British Open last summer.

Over the next month, he lost most of his strength on his left side.

The diagnosis was a pinched nerve that required surgery last September to fuse vertebrae in his neck.

He played only sparingly until this season and his early results were not great, missing the cut three times in his first seven events.

Things perked up in March with a pair of 13th-place finishes at The Honda Classic and the Puerto Rico Open.

The recovery took its biggest step yet at Harbour Town Golf Links.

He says he's about 85 percent healthy, but was pleased to manage Harbour Town's tiny, quick greens and narrow, tree-lined fairways.

"You've got to be a little bit lucky on the small greens and stuff to hit them all," Cejka said.

"But I hit good shots today."

Cejka's round took off on the back nine with four birdies on his last seven holes.

He made a 37-footer for birdie on No. 12, then punched from under a tree to 15 feet on the 13th hole for another birdie.

Another 15-foot birdie putt came on the par-5 15th before Cejka's shot two holes later. He was thinking lag up for a par.

"Then I hit a good putt a little bit firm and just hit the hole right in the middle," Cejka said with a smile.

Janzen, who won the U.S. Open in 1993 and 1998, posted his lowest opening round of the season.

He had a chip for birdie on his final hole, the ninth, that stopped a foot short of the cup.

"It looked like it was going in the hole, but never got there," he said.

Immelman wrapped up a rewarding, pressure-packed year that followed his 2008 Masters win.

He talked about his emotions playing his final few holes at Augusta National, and the bittersweet realization he'd no longer carry the distinction as the latest to wear the green jacket.

Immelman loved the respect and accolades that come from winning a major.

Yet, he struggled at times after the victory trying to live up to his new profile.

"The way I look at it now, I can close the chapter on 2008," Immelman said.

"It obviously was a breakthrough year for me. Now, I can take all that experience and put it to the test from now on."

Immelman came to his final hole, the ninth, a shot behind Cejka.

However, he put his approach shot over the green in a bunker and could not make par.

Weekley's only two U.S. PGA Tour wins have been at Harbour Town in the past two years and he dusted off the form he showed in 2007 and 2008.

Weekley, who chipped in on the 71st and 72nd holes to win here two years ago, did it again, this time from a bunker next to the par-5 second hole for an eagle to move four shots behind Cejka.

However, Weekley couldn't keep the momentum going. Still, it was his eighth score in the 60s in nine career rounds here.

"I guess I got some kind of karma," Weekley said. - AP

Scores Thursday from the Verizon Heritage, a $5.7 million US PGA Tour event at 6,973-yard, par-71 Harbour Town Golf Links:

First Round=

Alex Cejka 33-31_64

Lee Janzen 31-34_65

Trevor Immelman 34-32_66

Brian Gay 34-33_67

Ted Purdy 33-34_67

Rod Pampling 33-35_68

Bill Haas 34-34_68

Aron Price 34-34_68

Stephen Leaney 33-35_68

Tim Petrovic 34-34_68

Jose Maria Olazabal 34-34_68

Cliff Kresge 34-34_68

Todd Hamilton 35-33_68

Ernie Els 33-35_68

Jeff Maggert 33-35_68

Bob Estes 33-35_68

Ken Duke 34-35_69

Briny Baird 33-36_69

Scott Piercy 34-35_69

Dean Wilson 34-35_69

Greg Owen 33-36_69

Charles Howell III 35-34_69

Boo Weekley 35-34_69

Kevin Na 35-35_70

Brandt Snedeker 35-35_70

Zach Johnson 35-35_70

Camilo Villegas 33-37_70

Tommy Armour III 34-36_70

Jason Dufner 35-35_70

Matt Weibring 33-37_70

John Mallinger 36-34_70

Robert Garrigus 35-35_70

Tom Lehman 35-35_70

Woody Austin 36-34_70

Jonathan Byrd 37-33_70

Davis Love III 36-34_70

Justin Leonard 36-34_70

Rory Sabbatini 35-35_70

Charley Hoffman 34-36_70

Nathan Green 35-35_70

Vaughn Taylor 36-35_71

Steve Marino 34-37_71

Steve Elkington 35-36_71

D.J. Trahan 34-37_71

Dustin Johnson 36-35_71

Kevin Streelman 37-34_71

Jeev M. Singh 34-37_71

Tim Wilkinson 36-35_71

Charlie Wi 34-37_71

Matt Kuchar 36-35_71

Webb Simpson 34-37_71

George McNeill 34-37_71

Kirk Triplett 35-36_71

Daniel Chopra 37-34_71

Glen Day 34-37_71

Tommy Gainey 35-36_71

Heath Slocum 36-36_72

Spencer Levin 36-36_72

Corey Pavin 36-36_72

Chris DiMarco 36-36_72

Greg Kraft 35-37_72

Shaun Micheel 37-35_72

Mark Wilson 34-38_72

Scott Verplank 36-36_72

Peter Lonard 35-37_72

Rory McIlroy 36-36_72

Brendon de Jonge 33-39_72

Brett Quigley 34-38_72

Jeff Klauk 37-35_72

Bob Tway 38-34_72

Tim Clark 35-37_72

Nick O'Hern 38-34_72

Stewart Cink 37-35_72

Brian Davis 36-36_72

Jerry Kelly 37-35_72

Michael Allen 37-35_72

Marc Leishman 35-37_72

Nicholas Thompson 36-37_73

Mathew Goggin 35-38_73

Bo Van Pelt 37-36_73

Michael Letzig 36-37_73

Luke Donald 37-36_73

Eric Axley 38-35_73

Brian Bateman 37-36_73

Dudley Hart 35-38_73

Ryan Palmer 37-36_73

Carl Pettersson 37-36_73

Robert Allenby 36-37_73

Paul Casey 37-36_73

Joe Durant 38-35_73

Charles Warren 38-35_73

Bill Lunde 38-35_73

Tim Herron 36-37_73

Ben Crane 38-35_73

Chris Couch 37-36_73

Steve Lowery 37-36_73

Will MacKenzie 37-36_73

Jeff Quinney 36-37_73

Chris Stroud 39-34_73

Jarrod Lyle 36-37_73

James Driscoll 35-38_73

Billy Andrade 37-37_74

Chez Reavie 37-37_74

Lucas Glover 37-37_74

James Nitties 35-39_74

Colt Knost 37-37_74

Jose Coceres 36-38_74

John Senden 37-37_74

Kent Jones 37-37_74

Jim Furyk 35-39_74

Brad Adamonis 38-36_74

Mark Anderson 37-37_74

Aaron Baddeley 38-37_75

Mark Brooks 39-36_75

Matt Bettencourt 39-36_75

Fredrik Jacobson 38-38_76

Greg Chalmers 37-39_76

Cameron Beckman 40-36_76

Michael Bradley 36-40_76

Troy Matteson 39-37_76

Martin Laird 34-43_77

Brad Faxon 37-40_77

Billy Mayfair 38-39_77

Fred Funk 41-36_77

Steve Flesch 38-39_77

Tom Pernice, Jr. 41-37_78

Marc Turnesa 38-40_78

Jason Bohn 39-39_78

Cory Schneider 39-40_79

John Rollins 41-39_80

Parker McLachlin 39-41_80

Joe Ogilvie WD - AP


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