MARION, Iowa _ Maybe Mark Blakefield’s mantra should be better late than never.

Blakefield, a late entry to the 16th annual Greater Cedar Rapids Open, certainly wasn’t late Thursday. The 31-year-old University of Kentucky grad shot a 9-under-par 63 in the tournament’s opening round and has a three-shot lead over three others heading into Friday’s second round.

Blakefield, who won the Waterloo Open and it’s $55,000 first-place prize last year and also calls winning $50,000 for a hole in one among his top career highlights, was strolling around Hunters Ridge Golf Course in rather pedestrian fashion through the first four holes at even par. He then sandwiched birdies around an eagle at the par-5 sixth hole and went on to play his last 14 holes at 9-under par. His round included eight birdies and eight pars.

Blakefield, who finished two shots out of a playoff last week at Waterloo while defending his title and settled for a tie for seventh and $3,600, played in the Web.com Tour’s Nova Scotia Open earlier this month and tied for 64th. He missed the cut in the PGA’s Valspar Championship in Innisbrook Resort, Palm Harbor, Florida, earlier this year.

Justin Bryant (St. Louis, Missouri), who tied for 11th last year at the GCRO, Chris Naegel (Chesterfield, Missouri), who was 18th, and Billy Brozovich (Jackson, Mississippi), who was 33rd last year, all shot not-too-shabby 6-under-par 66s and trail the leader by three. Bryant, who played at Wake Forest, birdied five of his last seven holes.

Another stroke back is 2010 winner Andy Winings (Brownsburg, Indiana) and Justin Regier (Cary, North Carolina), who was only four shots out of a playoff last week in Waterloo. Winings worse finish here in five starts was a tie for 15th last year. He has three top fives at Hunters Ridge.

Recent University of Iowa grad Steven Ihm, who cashed a $30,000 check in his pro debut earlier this month at the John Deere Classic, was in a group of four at 4-under-par 68. Ihm has plenty of fond memories of Hunters Ridge. He won a PGA Junior qualifier here while in high school and also aced the par-3 fourth hole the same day for his first career hole in one. On Thursday he had an eagle, five birdies and three bogeys, including one on the fourth hole, in and up-and-down round.

Tied with Ihm are 2013 runner-up Justin Hueber (Ft. Wayne, Indiana), Jonathan Cox (Marietta, Georgia) and David Haley Jr. (Hilliard, Ohio). A total of 32 golfers shot below par on a day where the wind was rather benign for Hunters Ridge.

Among other notables, 2009 champ and Brown Deer Head Pro Sean McCarty took a 12 on the par-5 sixth hole and ended up with a 79 and 2012 champ Garrett Jones (Rewey, Wisconsin) had a 76.

Mark Lemon, the head pro at Airport National in Cedar Rapids and co-founder of the GCRO, is tied for the lead in the four-man Senior division with Albert Crews, Sr. (Palmer, Lousiana) at 6-over 78.

In the amateur division, Ryan Schrimper of Marion carded a 1-under 71 and leads Hunter O’Mahony (Tesquesta, Florida) by a shot.

The 54-hole tournament continues Friday with second-round tee times beginning at 7:30. There will be a cut to the low 40 and ties for Saturday’s final round. Admission is free.

Don Wojciechowski resides in the Hunters Ridge Golf Course community and plays the course on a regular basis. He’s a former sports editor for a suburban Chicago daily newspaper and an avid golf fan.