With relatively moderate wind conditions for most of the day, The Ridge Golf Club was the sight of some good rounds of golf in the opening round of the 117th Iowa Amateur.

Nine players broke par on a day that was made for golf with sunny skies and the afore mentioned calm conditions, which are rare for The Ridge.  Leading the pack is Indianola’s Jake Marvelli and Grimes’ Cody Holck at 68 (-3).

Marvelli, who played in the morning wave, commented that he felt pretty good about his opening round.

“It was a successful day,” Marvelli said. “I struck the ball well and only missed 2 or 3 fairways. It seemed to go my way today. The greens are so fast, you can’t try and make 30-footers. Hitting fairways and greens will be key this week.”

Holck said he was very happy with his ball striking effort today.

“I’ve hit it really well this past week or so,” Holck said. “Making some putts (today) helped too. I hit it close on a couple holes, that make its easy. Anyone keeping it under par all three days will have a good shot (at winning this tournament).”

Jon Brown (Adel), Corey Matthey (Sergeant Bluff) and Ben Epperly (West Des Moines) sit just a shot back of the lead, after opening with 69 (-2).

“I was hitting my approach shots well today,” Epperly said. “I am going to try and relax (tonight) and come back at it tomorrow.”

Brown admitted he was overall pleased with his round in the morning.

“We were fortunate the wind wasn’t howling out there,” Brown said. “It normally can out here. I had a great day. The golf course and its condition is fantastic. It’s so much fun to play. I hit the ball solid, but made a couple silly mistakes. I was burning edges and then all of sudden birdied three (holes) in a row. It was a good start (going into the weekend).

Click here for a full recap of scoring from Round One.