Jzeke Dukes believes he should have won his first Texas-Oklahoma Junior Golf championship last year.

The recent Houston Lamar graduate is back in Wichita Falls to take a second shot at winning the T-O and got out to a good start Monday, firing a 1-over 72 in the first round at Wichita Falls Country Club.

That puts Dukes in second place on the leaderboard, trailing Javier Vasquez of San Diego, California, by two strokes. Vasquez had the lone score under par. 

Dukes is a stroke ahead of Lawson Garner of McKinney and Jason Pittman of Monahans. Flower Mound's Liam Black and Brodey Claborn of Oklahoma City are tied for fifth at 74.

After two rounds in 2017, Dukes was tied for second and just four strokes off leader Robby Evans of Flower Mound. A strong final round might have netted him the win he wanted so badly.

But Dukes had a rough final day, shooting 78, falling back to to a tie for eighth – 10 strokes back of Evans, who won the tournament.

“Last year was heartbreaking because I feel like I basically should have won the tournament,” Dukes said. “I'm in the same spot I was in last year. Hopefully, I can put another two good rounds together and keep my head on tight.”

Dukes took a conservative approach to Monday's round at WFCC, opting to lay up in certain areas of the course where he might have used his driver last year.

“I know where to put the ball in the fairway and I know where to put the ball on the greens,” said Dukes, who will play golf Prairie View A&M in the fall. “I know when I can force a hole or might need to lay back. Like on 15, you have to lay back a little bit. You can't go for the par 5. On 16, I hit a 4-iron off the tee. I see guys using their 3-wood or even a driver. I just try to put the ball in play and make pars.”

Dukes made plenty of pars, although he did bogey two holes on the front nine – Nos. 4 and 7 – making the turn at 2 over. He regrouped with consecutive birdies to start the back nine get back even before giving up a stroke with a bogey on 12.

Dukes made par on the final six holes to finish the round 1 over.

“I wasn't really sure what people were going to shoot today,” Dukes said. “I was glad I got to go off in the morning because the wind started to pick up near the end of the round and it's definitely getting hotter.”

Dukes' personality is brimming with confidence. He was confident he would win last year and he feels that way again.

“I'm very confident to stay on top of the leaderboard and win,” Dukes said. “I want my name up on that board (at Weeks Park).”

BRADBERRY GETS 1ST ACE: Iowa Park's Mason Bradberry pulled off quite the accomplishment Sunday during a practice round at Wichita Falls Country Club. 

Bradberry aced the 13th hole which plays at 180 yards. It was the first hole-in-one for the Iowa Park Hawk. 

WYLIE HAS TOP LOCAL SCORE: Recent Archer City graduate Morgan Wylie carded the lowest round by a local player, shooting a 7-over 78. Wylie, a three-time Class 2A state qualifier, was a stroke better than Crowell's Seth Bearden and Rider's Lane Garcia.