General / Editor / 13 April 2007 /

Jerry Kelly leads Ernie Els by two shots after firing a first-round eight-under-par 63 at the Verizon Heritage tournament.

The American hit 10 birdies and two bogeys as he secured an early lead in South Carolina, but South African Els hit a 65 to stay in sight of top spot on the leaderboard. Argentinian Jose Coceres and Australian Stephen Leaney are another shot further back at -5.

JP Hayes had been neck-and-neck with Els throughout the round before a double bogey at the 17th left him on four-under-par along with Fred Funk and Stewart Cink, while Masters winner Zach Johnson is further down the board following a one-under 70.

It was a disappointing day for England's Justin Rose who, after a good performance at Augusta, had to withdraw from the tournament due to a back injury.

Els, who missed the cut at last week's Masters, was delighted to finally get his game back on track on Thursday.

"To start off well and feel like I'm in the tournament was a nice feeling," he said. "I hit the ball solidly and felt really good, a lot better than last week.

"I don't know if I was over-trained but I just wasn't there mentally at Augusta."

World number five Els is the 3.55 favourite to take the title, with leader Kelly trading at 8. Coceres is available at 15, Cink can be backed at 15.5 while Leaney is trading at 23.

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