The Daily Wrap-up, Round 1: Verizon Heritage

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Alex Cejka shot the lowest round of his season Thursday with a 7-under 64 to take the lead in Hilton Head.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) -- Alex Cejka wants to stay healthy this season. Playing his best golf wouldn't hurt, either.

RELATED LINKS

Leaderboard: Round 1 scores
Round 2 tee times
Scorecard: Alex Cejka
The Live Report: Round 1
Awtrey: Cejka on the mend
Player interviews
Notebook: Tidbits from the course
Photos: Round 1
Sirius|XM Podcast: Round 1

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Round 1 highlights
Boo's chip-in for eagle
PGA TOUR Today

Cejka, who missed more than three months last year because of neck surgery, shot his best round in nearly two years, a 7-under 64, to take a one-stroke lead at the Verizon Heritage on Thursday.

His bogey-free performance was capped by a 47-foot putt for birdie on the difficult, wind-swept 17th hole. That left Cejka with his first first-round lead since 2006, a shot ahead of two-time U.S. Open champion Lee Janzen and two in front of last year's Masters winner, Trevor Immelman.

"Just hopefully, everything stays well and I get healthy and practice hard," he said.

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 only played 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 presented by Banco Popular. The recovery took its biggest step yet at Harbour Town Golf Links.

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ON THE MEND, CEJKA'S HEALTH AND GAME IMPROVING
By Stan Awtrey, PGATOUR.COM Contributor

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- When the 47-foot putt on the 17th hole hit the back of cup and fell in for a birdie, Alex Cejka exhaled and chuckled. The odds of making such a putt are long, but it was indicative of the sort of day Cejka enjoyed throughout the first round of the Verizon Heritage.

That was the seventh birdie of Cejka's bogey-free round -- a 64 -- that gave him the early lead at Harbour Town. It was two shots better than Cejka's best score of the year, a 66 at The Honda Classic, and it showed that perhaps his game is ready to round into shape after off-season neck surgery.

"I'm not 100 percent; I'm like 85 percent," Cejka said. "It takes time. But I'm really happy in the way my body feels right now. Now it's a good time to start really practicing hard and play a lot of tournaments."

Cejka pinched a nerve in his back at the 2008 British Open at Royal Birkdale and lost all the strength in his left side. He had surgery in September to correct the problem, with doctors "doing a fusion" on his neck. He played little until January and has had limited success this season.

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Top 5 notables at Verizon Heritage

Name Score Position Comment Friday tee time Ernie Els 3 under T6 The Big Easy feels right at home at Harbour Town and it showed with four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine. 1:10 p.m. Boo Weekley 2 under T17 The two-time defending champion wasn't great with the putter, but he didn't need to be with an eagle on the second hole. 1:00 p.m. Zach Johnson 1 under T24 The 2007 Masters champion rebounded from a dreadful second-round 80 at Augusta with a respectable round on a windy day. 1:00 p.m. Camilo Villegas 1 under T24 Spiderman had a birdie and an eagle on the front nine, but two early bogeys on the back nine left a sour taste in his mouth. 1:00 p.m. Davis Love III 1 under T24 Love birdied the difficult 16th and 18th holes, but could only manage a 1 udner score as he fought the wind all day. 8:20 a.m.

Thursday's Best

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The 502-yard par-5 second hole at Harbour Town was easiest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.656. EAGLES: 5 BIRDIES: 49 PARS: 66 BOGEYS: 9 OTHERS: 2 The 452-yard par-4 18th at Harbour Town was toughest with a Thursday scoring average of 4.382. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 10 PARS: 70 BOGEYS: 43 OTHERS: 8

SHOT OF THE DAY ROUND OF THE DAY Two-time defending champion Boo Weekley chipped in for eagle on the pa5-5 second hole. Watch his shot Alex Cejka strung together four birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back nine after three on the front for a bogey-free round. Check out his scorecard

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"My goal is to stay healthy. I had the neck surgery, also, end of last year I was off for three months. So it was tough to come back. So just hopefully everything stays well and I get healthy and practice hard." -- First-round leader Alex Cejka on battling injuries the last couple of years Transcripts: Alex Cejka Lee Janzen Trevor Immelman More

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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Bob Stevens offers these observations from Thursday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.

The designer of Harbour Town Golf Links, Pete Dye, said Wednesday that he really didn't have to think about lengthening his course to keep up with technology, that mother nature would take care of it. The massive oaks and pines that guard the fairways continue to grow, making it even tighter year after year. Australian Stephen Leaney certainly agreed. Despite a solid 68 in the opening round, he spent a fair amount of time in the trees, having to choke up on irons to escape the woods at 12 and 18, bogeying both.

One of the oddest physical pairings you could make on TOUR proved what kind of player this course can favor. Brian Gay is generously listed at 5-foot-10, while Dustin Johnson is a lanky 6-foot-4 and can dunk a basketball standing flat-footed. So who owned the day Thursday? Gay fired a 4-under-par 67 while Johnson, who told me he only hit three drivers on Harbour Town's tight layout, was at level-par. Score one for the short hitters.

There are not very many two-time U.S. Open champions scrambling for sponsor exemptions. Lee Janzen has ridden the roller coaster both ways, but told me he's now trying not to sweat the early bogey that used to doom his rounds. He began his opening round with three pars and a bogey, then caught fire with two long birdies at his fifth and sixth holes and had five birdies on his inward nine. He says the best players "expect to play well," and he's getting closer to that mind-set again. It has been almost 11 years since his last TOUR win, the '98 U.S. Open.

FIRST-ROUND NOTEBOOK: VERIZON HERITAGE
By Mark Stevens, PGA TOUR Staff

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. -- Alex Cejka shot a bogey free 7-under 64 in the morning wave to record his lowest round since a 64 at the 2007 Canadian Open, where he finished tied for 10th. Cejka's career-best round is a 63 at the 2004 Booz Allen Classic.

• Cejka has previously held a share of the first-round lead two times in his career, both coming in 2006 at the FBR Open (tied for 53rd) and Valero Texas Open (tied for 50th).

• Cejka is making his fourth appearance at the Verizon Heritage. He finished tied for 25th in 2004, missed the cut in 2003 and was disqualified in 2005 for playing a wrong ball.

• Lee Janzen used only 23 putts to post a six-under 65 in the first round. Janzen's career-best for fewest putts in a round is 21 at the 1995 Mercedes Championship. It is only the first round, but Harbour Town has a history of low putting numbers. David Frost set the PGA TOUR's all-time 72-hole putting record with 92 total putts at Harbour Town in 2005. The old mark was also set at Harbour Town when Kenny Knox had just 93 putts in 1989 (matched by Mark Calcavecchia at the 2002 Greater Greensboro Chrysler Classic).

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KODAK CHALLENGE: The first-of-its-kind competition for PGA TOUR players continues at the Verizon Heritage.

The Kodak Challenge celebrates beautiful holes and memorable moments on the PGA TOUR. The Kodak Challenge offers $1 million to the winner. There will be one designated Kodak Challenge Hole at 24 different PGA TOUR tournaments in 2009, with this week's featured hole the 411-yard par-4 18th.

Players, who must play at least 18 of the holes during the season to be eligible, will count their lowest score relative to par on the Kodak Challenge Hole made during an official competition round. The player, with the lowest cumulative score in relation to par at the end of the challenge, wins.

• For more on the Kodak Challenge, click here.