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VERIZON HERITAGEApril 16, 2009Alex CejkaHILTON HEAD, SOUTH CAROLINA MARK STEVENS: I'd like to welcome Alex Cejka, who holds the first-round lead after the morning wave with a 64. Alex, if you'll kind of start off with comments about your round and then we'll take some questions. ALEX CEJKA: I played pretty solid overall. It's not an easy course. It's tight. You've got to shape the shots. You've got to be a little bit lucky on the small greens and stuff to hit them all. But I hit good shots today. I played well and I was putting well. That's the key. If you putt well it helps a lot, and today was one of the days where when you play well and putt also well, so it's possible to go low. Q. Just looking on the results, the past few tournaments haven't been anything dramatically like this, anything specifically change? ALEX CEJKA: No, I've been actually playing well. It's just -- wasn't lucky. Sometimes you have to be lucky. That's part of the game, too. I had good shots and in the past couple of weeks. I hit it one yard off my line where I want to and kicks right instead of kicking left and on to the green. And the putting wasn't quite as good as today, the last couple of weeks. So I've been practicing hard and I've been waiting for it to turn, and today was one of these good days. Q. You hadn't played here in a couple of years, in a few years, was it something about the course that didn't suit your game at the time or did it just not fit in your schedule? ALEX CEJKA: No, I'm trying to remember. I think two years ago I wasn't in the field. And last year I think I went to Europe, I think. But I played here a couple of times before, so I like it. It's not like I don't like to play it because it's windy. I like it here and just the last two years it wasn't possible for me. I normally play well here. It's a good ball-striking course. It's a good start so far. Q. Being you're from Las Vegas you must be a little bit used to the wind. Do you like playing in the wind? ALEX CEJKA: I'm used to it, I don't like it. I think nobody really likes it. But even back then when I was playing in the European Tour we have conditions like this most of the time. It gets tough. It's challenging, it's tricky. But I'd rather have it like weather in Palm Springs where it's warm and no wind at all. But this is the way it is and we all have to deal with it. Q. Talk about how much you want to play on the PGA Tour and in the States, how much you want to play on the European Tour, and what you're looking at doing? ALEX CEJKA: I'm going to play mainly here in the States. I'm going to go probably for three or four tournaments to Europe. But I'm focusing really to play here full-time. Q. You had your drive on 13 that was kind of left of the fairway and you kind of under the hanging oak there. Can you describe, that was an incredible shot you hit to the green and you only had a couple of spots to go. Can you describe what you were playing there? ALEX CEJKA: Yeah, well, I think I had like 120 yards. I had to keep the ball low, under the tree. I just kind of punched it from the right to keep it low, and it checked actually pretty good on the green. It checked better than I expected. It was kind of a good, but also a lucky shot, too, where it checks exactly where you need to and it was pin-high. Q. I think you just hit that 50-foot putt on the last green. Was that the spot where you kind of said, okay, this is where my round can either keep going up -- ALEX CEJKA: On 17? Yeah, it was going a little bit right of the flag and it's a tricky hole. So I said par is good, 17, 18, if I par, it's still a good score. 18 is into the wind. Then I hit a good putt a little bit firm and just hit the hole right in the middle. And 18, it's a tough hole today into the wind. I hit a very good drive and a 3-iron. There's going to be a couple of rescues of 3-woods into the green if the wind stays like this. Q. Did you have any goals in particular this year? Is there anything in particular you're trying to accomplish? ALEX CEJKA: Yeah, my goal is to stay healthy. I was, last couple of years, been a little bit unlucky, a little bit injured. I had the neck surgery, also, like end of last year where I was off for three months. So it was tough to come back. But this year after three months not playing. So just hopefully everything stays well and I get healthy and practice hard. Q. When did you have the surgery? ALEX CEJKA: September I think. Q. September. So you were out three months? ALEX CEJKA: Yes. Q. I guess what was the nature of the surgery and has it affected your game any or your swing in particular? ALEX CEJKA: Yeah, I pinched a nerve at the British Open last year and just lost all my strength in the left side and waited like three or four weeks after the British Open and it was really muscle spasm and I lost a lot of muscles in the three weeks. And they had to go in and just did a fusion between C6 and C7 on the neck. Q. Are you still coming back from that? Do you feel yourself getting stronger and your swing coming back? ALEX CEJKA: I'm not 100 percent. I'm like 85 percent. I'm working hard on it. It takes time. But I'm pretty 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. MARK STEVENS: If you would, great bogey-free round, go through all of your birdies for us. ALEX CEJKA: No. 4 I hit a 7-iron to about 15 feet and holed a putt. Next par-5 I had to lay up. I had like 90 yards to the pin, hit it to about 10 feet and holed the putt. No. 9, I hit a 3-wood off the tee, then hit the lob wedge to about six feet and holed the putt. No. 12, I can't remember No. 12. I think I holed like a 20-footer, too. No. 13, I hit the punch pitching wedge under the tree, to about 15 feet and holed the putt. 15, also hit a 9-iron just short of the pin, 15 feet, holed the putt. On 17, I holed I think a 40, 45-footer. MARK STEVENS: Thank you, Alex, for coming in. End of FastScripts |
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