And there are a pair of players with the potential to pull it off.

Shawn Warren, a Windham native and previous Maine Open and Maine Amateur champion (and now an assistant professional at Falmouth Country Club), made up for a pair of three-putts and an otherwise average round Tuesday, shooting 6-under on four par-5s to card a 6-under-par 66 in the first round of the 93rd Charlie’s Maine Open at Falmouth Country Club.

“Are you going to be Rory McIlroy?” Maine State Golf Association Executive Director Nancy Storey asked Warren with a smile after he posted his score early among the first wave of golfers.

“Not Masters-Rory, but U.S. Open-Rory,” Warren quipped, referring to McIlroy’s romp through last weekend’s major championship. In the Masters, McIlroy blew a large lead on the final day.

With the Maine Open now only a 36-hole, two-day event, Wednesday’s second round is also the final round, which prompted Warren to relax this week, and mentally break the tourney down into stages.

“I felt like staying out of trouble and having a stress-free round was better than taking a chance to have a little less club into some of the greens,” Warren said. “I try to break it down into four rounds of nine holes, and if I can shoot under par on each nine, then I’ll have a chance at the end.”

He blazed through the event’s first leg, kick-starting his round with a birdie on the first hole, and recovering from a three-putt bogey on No. 5 with eagles on the sixth and eighth holes, both par-5s.

After such a smooth start, Warren’s next challenge was to avoid letting up on the second nine.

“I tried to put that out of my mind after the first nine,” Warren said. “I didn’t want to try and play safe and protect the four-under that I had. I wanted to go out there and shoot another nine holes under par.”

A birdie-bogey-birdie sequence on the 12th, 13th and 14th holes put Warren at 1-under on the back, and another birdie on the final par-5 of the morning — No. 17 — put Warren in front.

But he wasn’t alone.

Beon Yeong Lee, a native of South Korea now living in a Montreal suburb, also shot a 66 Tuesday, carding five birdies and an eagle against only one bogey.

“I just wanted to go out there and play my game, try to be aggressive,” Lee said. “It worked out good. (The course) really fits my game.”

Lee, who moved to North America with his parents at 16, picked up golf as an 11-year-old.

Now 22, Lee turned pro last fall, and has played on the Hooters Tour and Gateway Tour. After returning to Montreal in late April, he weathered the rainy spring and has since returned to form. He played a pair of practice rounds at Falmouth before the tournament, and ran into little trouble Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Warren’s laid back approach to the tournament at what is essentially his home course manifested itself in the afternoon. Unlike many of his counterparts this week, Warren backed off his mid-tourney preparation.

“I know what’s out here; I know the trouble that lurks,” Warren said. “I’ve tried to play as stress-free as possible … I’ve played in this tournament so much, I know that if I don’t win, it will be the same tournament next year, and the same the year after. I’ve already won the tournament, so there’s no more of those questions. Now, I can spend the afternoon relaxing.”

Lurking in the afternoon session, and able to shoot low numbers, were a handful of top Maine professionals, as well as a handful of Warren’s friends from the mini-tour circuit, including Michael Welch and Jason Parajeckas of Massachusetts, and past contender Eric Egloff of Maryland.

Egloff fired a 69, one off his pro-am score from Monday, while Welch and Parajeckas each carded 76s.

Top tri-county area golfers after the first day included Bob Darling of Fox Ridge, who shot an even-par 72 and is tied with last year’s first-round leader, Tim Desmarais, for second-lowest Maine professional behind John Hickson of Topsham, who shot a 70.

Among area amateurs, Andrew Slattery of Auburn shot a 4-over 76, and trails Jason Gall by five for the amateur title.