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While the temperature reached 99 degrees on Thursday, there was one golfer even hotter.

Bobby Massa, a former Tylerite known for his length off the tee, scorched the Willow Brook Country Club layout, eagling three of the four par 5s and setting a course record of 62, to take the first round lead of the 113th Texas Amateur.

“I started hitting the driver pretty good early on, and that gives me an advantage,” said Massa, who played collegiately at the UT Arlington from 2006-10. “I just kept hitting it in the fairway, and things kept going the way I wanted. I made a lot of putts.”

The reinstated amateur from Dallas knows all about the long ball, hitting between 330-340 yards on his drives.

Massa’s 9-under 62 broke 2013 Texas Mid-Amateur champion Clay Hodge’s previous record of 7-under 64 at Willow Brook. After starting his day with four consecutive pars, Massa made his first birdie on his fifth hole. Two holes later, he made his first eagle, about a 10-footer on his seventh hole.

Five players share second place at 5-under 66, four strokes behind Massa. That group includes Hutto’s Jake Doggett, who finished second last summer in the 112th Texas Amateur at Midland Country Club, and Colleyville’s Zach Atkinson, who won the 95th Texas Amateur at The Woodlands’ Club at Carlton Woods in 2004. Doggett went bogey-free and made five birdies. Atkinson had five birdies and an eagle to offset a pair of bogeys.

Tied with Doggett and Atkinson for second place are Kingwood’s Hayes Hamilton (Arkansas Tech golfer), Truett Burns of Fredericksburg, and McKinney’s Hunter Millsap, a rising senior at McKinney Boyd High School.

Willow Brook played to a stroke average of 72.88 in the first round. Thirty-nine players broke par. Players who posted rounds of 1-over 72 were in a tie for 55th place.

Hodge, of Tyler and a former Texas A&M golfer, carded a 72 while Tyler’s Rory Smith (former SMU golfer) had a 73. Current TCU player Colton Cavender of Tyler had a 74. Tyler’s Aaron Hickman, a former Horned Frog golfer, shot a 76. Hodge, Cavender and Hickman have all won WBCC club championships. Longview’s Lake Juban scored a 76.

Other golfers with local ties were Joshua German (Sam Houston State) of Gun Barrel City (77) and Jeffery Juillerat, formerly of Tyler and now of Dallas (79).

Defending champion Austyn Reily of Pottsboro and the University of Houston, carded a 73.

The tourney is 72-hole individual stroke play (walking-only). All contestants play 18 holes on Thursday and Friday. After 36 holes the field will be cut to the low 54 scores and ties heading into the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.

Round two is scheduled to begin at 7:30 a.m. Friday.

HONORING A.J. TRIGGS

During Wednesday night’s Players’ Reception at Willow Brook, the TGA memorialized a legend and handed out some awards.

“When you think of Willow Brook Country Club, you think of A.J. Triggs,” the TGA’s Director of Competitions John Cochran said.

Triggs, a longtime Willow Brook member who was club president in 1989, also was a two-time past TGA President who spent more than 30 years as a director. The winning captain of the 2009 Texas Shootout, Triggs was steward of the game in every aspect. He won 55 amateur tournaments and was part of the 1949 and ’50 University of North Texas national championship teams. He was best known, however, for his volunteerism and passion for growing the game.

Triggs was inducted into the Texas Golf Hall of Fame in 2013. He passed away in 2015.

Triggs’ Willow Brook president’s jacket, along with a Texas Amateur hat and the medal from the 2009 Shootout, were on display at the Players’ Reception. The makeshift Triggs memorial also was present on the first tee for Thursday’s opening round.

The 2021 Texas Player of the Year Christopher Wheeler picked up his hardware Wednesday night. Last year’s South Texas Player of the Year, Padden Nelson from Houston, and North Texas Player of the Year, Gant Bills of Plano, also were honored.

The TGA’s two 2021 regional Volunteers of the Year were acknowledged as well: Richard Bargon (North Texas), and Craig Branson (South Texas).