Cejka leads at Verizon Heritage

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

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.

► VOLVO CHINA OPEN: At Beijing, Austria's Markus Brier shot a 5-under 67 on Thursday to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the Volvo China Open.

Brier, the 2007 champion, made seven birdies against two bogeys at the par 72, 7,321-yard Beijing CBD International Golf Club, keeping him just ahead of Australian David McKenzie and Nick Dougherty of England.

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