Scott Jordan lost his ball after hitting it into the fescue on No. 18. Besides that miscue, he had an excellent day at the West Penn Open.

Jordan led the field by making birdie on half of the holes at Sewickley Heights GC to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the 122nd WPGA Open Championship on Monday.

Jordan did not record a bogey until the eighth hole. The Upper St. Clair graduate birdied the second, fifth, sixth, ninth, 10th, 12th, 13th and 15th holes to land 7-under-par. Then, he bogeyed No. 16 and birdied No. 17 before he had to play a provisional to end the round on a double bogey. He shot 5-under 66 on the par-71 course.

“My driver was kind of off. I hit a really bad one on the 18 there. I was spraying it in the rough, but I had a lot of great wedges, hit some great approach shots, gave myself great birdie looks all day and I was rolling it great,” Jordan said. “I made a bunch of putts, which always helps. You know, sticking wedges close is great, but I felt really comfortable out there.”

Despite recent rain, the course was soft yet firm enough for championship play in cloudy weather. The course aligned with Jordan’s strengths.

“I’ll stick to the same routine, pretty much, like attacking pins. I’ll stay confident, stay aggressive,” Jordan said. “I don’t want to get too uncomfortable over shots. I try to stay committed to each shot, go to the same game plan: attack.”

Jordan recently completed his senior season at Longwood University, and the amateur finished in the top 10 last year at the West Penn Open. Hunter Swidzinski, his college teammate and a Butler graduate, ended the round at 2-under, tied for fourth overall and tied for second among amateurs. He was second with seven birdies, behind Jordan’s nine. WPGA Spring Stroke Play champion and amateur Chuck Tragesser, a Franklin Regional graduate, is also tied in fourth at 2-under.

“Hunter is one of my great friends around here. … Playing out here with him is great because he’s very good himself, and he’s just a freshman, gonna be a sophomore next year,” Jordan said. “And (I) try to play up to him, his level, try to beat him every time.”

Easton Renwick of Sewickley and Beau Titsworth, a two-time West Penn Open champ, share the lead among professionals at 3-under. They are second in the overall standings.

The defending champion, Alec Stopperich, is 4-over in a tie for 34th place. They are three of the 77 other golfers trailing Jordan. They will look to catch up and pass him during the rest of the three-round 54-hole championship.

Oakmont head pro Devin Gee started strong with a birdie on No. 2, but he then went over par with a double bogey on the third hole. He had another birdie on No. 8 and another bogey on No. 18 to finish the round 1-over under much different circumstances than when he played at Oakmont as a marker during the U.S. Open.

“Those guys had to pitch it out to the fairway in some cases, so if you hit it in the rough, it’s a one-shot penalty. … But I think more so, playing around that number of people is really different. … When you’re out playing as a marker, you’re really out there to certainly be with that player, but also not playing in a way where there’s any distraction,” Gee said. “So you’re trying to try to have a lot of tap-ins and not necessarily be grinding over 3- and 4-footers.”

Gee hit 16 greens and had some birdie looks inside of 10 feet, but he could not take advantage of those opportunities to get under par.

“Looking forward to hopefully the next two days. … I feel like, if I can hit it like I did today, I feel like I could shoot a decent score,” Gee said.

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