The one thing everyone involved in the TrueNorth Greater Cedar Rapids Open, presented by Granite City Food & Brewery, could agree on about Thursday’s first round was it was hot. It was real hot. Repeat: It was really hot.

Golfer Dane Worley of Cedar Rapids tweeted: “It was 1,000 degrees fahrenheit on the golf course.”

Most would have agreed with him.

Not sure what Jared Howard of Dublin, Ohio, thought about the heat, but his golf game was pretty hot in its own right.

Howard, a former Cincinnati Bearcat who won an 18-hole, one-day tournament earlier this year on the West Florida Golf Tour, fired a 7-under-par 65 to grab the first-round lead.

Howard, teeing off in the morning wave before the winds kicked up in the afternoon, birdied every hole on the front nine but three and made the turn in 6-under 30. He added a birdie on the tough par-4 13th and takes a one shot lead into Friday’s second round.

University of Kansas product Josh Weems didn’t have a great time at the Waterloo Open last week, failing to make the cut. Weems brushed that off Thursday at Hunters Ridge Golf Course and shot a 6-under 66 and is in second all by himself.

A total of 40 golfers broke par in the opening round of the 54-hole tournament, which pays the winner a record $25,000.

Howard became the first golfer not named Blakefield or Apyan to lead the GCRO in three years. The two wire-to-wire winners of the last two years aren’t far off the pace. Paul Apyan (Chattanooga, Tennessee), the defending champ, shot a 3-under 69 and trails by four. He went for the green in two on the long, dangerous par-5 17th hole and ended up hitting it in the water.

He said afterward he’d do it again. Was he disappointed or pleased with his round?

“A little in between,” said Apyan.

Mark Blakefield, who led all three rounds in 2014 en route to the title, had a relatively benign round for him at Hunters. He had four birdies and two bogeys for a 2-under 70. “It could have been better,” said Blakefield.

Wyoming grad Eddie Stewart (Jackson, Wyoming) and Juan Diego Fernandez (Scottsdale, Arizona), who made three cuts in eight events on the PGA’s Latinoamerica Tour earlier this year, both overcame the afternoon heat and posted 5-under 67s. They joined Nick Mehigan (Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin), who teed in the morning and also posted a 67.

Fernandez tied for 51st at Waterloo and Stewart failed to make the cut.

There are seven golfers at 4-under 68 including local favorite Luke Slaymaker of Marion, who played a bogey-free round. Also in the group at 68 was Seth Fair (Brownsburg, Indiana), who has been in contention here a couple times and finished second once. He’s coming off a tie for second at Waterloo.

Those who played in the morning Thursday will get the afternoon test in today’s brutal heat. Second-round tee times begin at 7 a.m. and admission is free. After today’s play the field will be cut to the top 50 and ties for Saturday’s final round.

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.

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