On Friday, in the first round of the Navajo Trail Open: "I never got anything going," Sena said. "(Thursday) I had a lot more. (Thursday) I had everything going."

Sena's 10-under par led amateurs Chris Harrison, Randy Garrett and Ken Gaherty to a first-place finish (120) and the money prize in Thursday's opening event this weekend at Hillcrest Golf Club.

A good night's sleep later, Sena finished six strokes behind foursome partner and clubhouse runner-up Billy Dunson in the first round of the three-day professional flight.

"It's hard to follow up a good round with another good round," said Sena, a former state prep champion and 2004 Montezuma-Cortez High School graduate.

"Your expectations get a lot higher, and if you don't necessarily succeed right away, it frustrates you even more."

Sena, the last of his foursome to tee off on the 372-yard No. 1, watched patiently while Dunson, Jeremy Lederer and Marco Stevanoni all hit drives well short of the green.

"I'm gonna wait for the green to clear off, guys," he said.

As the previous foursome putted out to finish their hole, Sena proceeded to hit his drive well right of his intended target between a pair of twin pines.

One of those "expectations get a lot higher" shots he was referencing.

Sena saved par with a nifty punch shot to the green, then two-putted No. 2 for another par. He found the water's edge on 3, had to take a drop, then finished the hole with a bogey.

The same went for Lederer, his second of three bogeys in his first four holes.

"I had a pretty unfortunate incident on No. 4," said Lederer, whose laser rangefinder steered him wrong.

"I was shooting for the pin, but it shot the tree behind the green instead. I didn't double-check it, and I ended up OB."

Lederer's approach from 150 yards outgained the green, the tree, then the chain-link fence that marks out of bounds behind the fourth hole.

Lederer, who once shared the course record 65 with former Navajo champion Mike Northern while the former was a high school student-athlete at Montrose, made par the next three holes then finished birdie, bogey at the turn.

"You just never know what you're going to get," said Lederer, a Fort Lewis College alumnus who made HGC his home course for four years.

Sena birdied No. 4 and No. 8, bogeyed No. 5 and made par on three of the final four holes on the front nine, a half-round of golf that took the cartless pros 2 hours, 26 minutes.

The back nine took another 3 hours.

Quickly to the 10th tee, Sena wasted little time in his fruitless pursuit for frustration.

His tee shot found the trees and put him in an awkward position. Slumped over with an earful of pine needles in his face, Sena topped his second shot about 50 yards down the rough.

"Oh, man, that was so impressive," Sena said sarcastically after his shot.

Sena finished his round with six bogeys and four birdies for a 2-over par 73.

"I had a lot of mental errors (Friday), and a lot of times that just compounds things," Sena said.

Lederer had three birdies on the back 9 and finished 3-over par 74.

Dunson, who lives in Mesa, Ariz., but grew up in Farmington, finished 4-under 67 and was one stroke behind clubhouse co-leaders and former Navajo champions Micah Rudosky of Cortez and Jay Osmon of Alamosa.

"Anything in the 60s is always a good number," said Dunson, who had a little help from his 14-year-old caddy from Durango, Michael Thomas.

"It's good to get under par early, now I just have to keep it going."

Dunson tees off at 8:10 a.m. today with the same foursome.

Osmon, Rudosky, Tom Kalinowski - two strokes back with a first-day 68 - and Barry Milstead tee off at 9:14 a.m. today from No. 10.

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