By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

FALMOUTH – The Woodlands Club isn’t particularly long – the 18-hole layout measures about 6,800 yards for championship play.

But if any golfer expected to be near the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the 77th New England Amateur Championship on Tuesday, length wasn’t nearly as important as accuracy – and plenty of water.

Craig Steckowych, the 2001 New England Amateur champion, fired a bogey-free, 6-under-par 66 to take control of the tournament on Day 1 in the blistering heat.

“It’s not a particularly long golf course, but if you get the ball in play, you’ll be all right because a lot of the approach shots are wedges and short irons,” said Steckowych. “I was fortunate enough to hit it pretty close all day. It was fun.”

Windham’s Shawn Warren, who last week won the Maine Amateur, had the round of the day going early. Through his first nine holes (Warren played the back nine first), he was 4-under, and he even had it to 7-under-par through 14 holes.

“I had it going for a while there,” said Warren. “I had it going really well.”

Warren yanked his drive left on the par-5 sixth hole, though, took two shots to get out of the woods, and made a double-bogey. He three-putted the next green, the par-3 seventh hole, to drop to 4-under, but it was his 17th hole, the 8th hole, on the front nine that jumped up and bit him.

Warren hit 3-wood off the tee, caromed off a fairway bunker on the right side and into a small depression in the woods. From there, Warren whiffed twice before catching enough of the ball to pop it out of the dip in the ground, but he still lay four, and he was still in the woods.

“It was in a depression in there,” said Warren. “All I could do was just take a little swing. I took a little one, went over it. Took a little one, went over it. Took a little one, it popped out, rolled down to a tree.”

Four shots later, Warren, who after 14 holes was on record pace, was back to even par. For good measure, Warren bogeyed the par-4 ninth hole and finished at 1-over 73.

“I just have to go out and try and shoot something under par (today),” said Warren. “I’ve played here enough, and I know I can shoot a number out here, but I also know you’re not going to get it to seven-under and make eight birdies every single day.

“When you get it going like that, you have to finish the round if you’re going to win the tournament.”

Despite Warren’s struggles, the heat made going tough in the afternoon. Temperatures on the course soared into the 90s.

“I’m glad it’s over with,” said Bill Drohen of Massachusetts. “At 8:30 this morning, it was bad. At 9:30, it was probably just as bad as it is now (at noon). It got up there pretty quick, and it was really tough out there.”

Three players withdrew due to the heat.

Drohen, who plays out of Bradford Country Club just outside of Haverhill, Mass., shot a solid, bogey-free 68 and sits just two back of Steckowych after Round 1.

“Here you just have to avoid the trouble, really,” said Drohen. “Getting a little older, we’re getting a little wiser, I guess. If I had to hit it into the right rough to avoid the water on the left, that’s what I did. It makes the course a lot easier, too, when you hit the fairways.”

Drohen missed just one all day.

The day, though, belonged to Steckowych, who shot matching 33s on each nine, and who didn’t seem too bothered by the tropical conditions.

“I can’t play much better than that,” said Steckowych. “Tee to green I hit the ball solid, I was always in play, and I made putts.”

Locally, Minot’s Keegan Fennessy, who plays out of Point Sebago and last week competed in the U.S. Amateur Public Links Tournament, came around with an 81. Scott Newell, playing out of Fox Ridge in Auburn, fired a 93.

Two-time New England Amateur champ and 13-time Maine Amateur champ Mark Plummer finished up his late-morning round at 74, while Blake Eldridge of Winthrop and Augusta Country Club, staggered in with the rest of the late-afternoon field with an 82.

Other top Maine scores included Toby Spector and Joe Alvarez with 72s and Jesse Speirs with a 74.