Niceville product Jordan leads girls side at DeBolt (PHOTO GALLERY)

FORT WALTON BEACH — Before teeing off on the first day of the 31st Annual Marvin DeBolt Daily News Junior Golf Classic, Jaime Jordan had hoped to make a statement in one of her final appearances on the Emerald Coast Junior Golf Tour.

View photos from the first day of play »

But after watching ball after ball veer from its intended path on the driving range Wednesday, the odds didn’t appear in the Niceville graduate’s favor.

“I was kind of hacking it around,” Jordan said. “I couldn’t hit a shot on the range to save my life.”

Fortunately for Jordan, the two-time Daily News girls Golfer of the Year, those shots started to fall when it mattered most. Jordan weathered three straight bogeys on the front nine before a stirring performance on the back nine to card a 71 and enter the clubhouse atop the leader board in the girls’ 15-18 division.

Gulf Breeze products Sarah Hicks and Ashleigh Ryals each finished with a Day 1 round of 73, while Fort Walton Beach’s Rachael Struzinski and Niceville’s Ivey Kelly each shot a 76. Fort Walton Beach’s Summer Struzinski carded a 77, as did Niceville’s Rebekah Pruett, placing six golfers within six strokes of the leader and setting the stage for what could be a drama-filled Day 2.

It was last year that Hicks, Ryals and Kelsey Gibson staged a nailbiting second day that saw Gibson come away with a one-stroke win over Hicks and third place Ryals.

With the way Day 1 ended, this year’s Classic could also come down to the final hole.

“My dad’s favorite saying is, ‘You can’t win on the first day, but you can lose,’ ” Jordan said. “So I figured as long as I didn’t lose today, I’d have a better chance of winning tomorrow.”

Jordan’s chances of winning the event that left her so frustrated a year ago were much better after a back nine performance that saw her birdie five holes. Even more impressive, Jordan’s run of birdies on 10, 12, 13, 17 and 18 came shortly after bogeying holes seven through nine.

It was at last year’s DeBolt Classic that Jordan walked off the Pines course thoroughly disgusted with her play after firing a two-day 156.

Jordan’s round of 71 surpassed her previous low score of 74, but even that didn’t come in tournament play, making Wednesday’s effort that much more satisfying for the West Florida commit.

“I tried to repress that memory,” Jordan said. “I think the fact that this is my last summer playing in the junior tour, I really wanted to play well.

“I knew I needed to play well and I knew I was able to. It was just all about getting it all together.”

Hicks, who has won the event in two of the past three years, is still waiting for her game to round into form.

“I was extremely frustrated,” Hicks said. “I worked so hard on that front nine and I shot 3-over par. I (usually) don’t have to work that hard to make birdies and I was working that hard to make par.”

If it wasn’t her driver giving her fits, it was her wedge. And even when Hicks’ approach was strong, it was her putting letting her down. On the back nine, however, Hicks’ up-and-down play began to flatten out as she finished at 2-under par over the final nine and remained a threat for a third Classic crown in four years.

“The fact that I was able to step back and not let all of my problems bother me — I’m pretty proud of myself, I’m not going to lie,” Hicks said.