FALMOUTH — Almost every child at one time or another has been advised: “Listen to your mother.”

Pete Morgan must have listened to his inner voice Monday because the Valrico, Fla., resident opened the defense of his New England Open golf championship with a 4-under-par 68, his career best at The Woodlands Club, after a talk with his mother the night before.

Jeff Dantas headed the other half of the field, playing at Portland Country Club in Falmouth Foreside, by posting a 3-under-par 67. Jerry DiPhilippo, an assistant pro at Riverside Municipal Golf Course in Portland, and Jeff Seavey, an assistant at Samoset Resort in Rockport, each recorded a 68, and Mike Shoueiry of Massachusetts’ Bradford Country Club turned in a 69. DiPhilippo, Seavey, and Shoueiry all played at PCC.

The closest challengers to Morgan at The Woodlands were Waterville Country Club pro Don Roberts, 1999 Maine Open champ Kyle Gallo of Waterbury Center, Conn., and Frank Dully II of Massachusetts’ Kernwood Country Club at 1-under-par 71.

“A lot of it is mental with me up here [in Maine],” said Morgan, who has won four times in the state. “I think I expect to win, and others expect me to win. There’s a lot of pressure.

“In a pro-am yesterday [Sunday], if I made a bogey, I’d go bananas. My frustration level was very high.”

Later, he talked to his mother, Dotty.

“She said I can’t put that much pressure on myself,” said Morgan. “She gave me a little pep talk.

“My wife [Karen] has been saying the same thing.”

Morgan regularly calls his parents, Jack and Dotty, who live in Harwich, Mass., on Cape Cod.

Morgan said he calls “once a week, especially up here . They like to follow what I’m doing.”

If she had followed him Monday, Morgan’s mother would have been proud of what she saw.

Morgan said, “I came in with the attitude to be as patient as I could be, to try to hit as many fairways and greens as I could.”

It worked, as he hit 16 greens in regulation and didn’t make a single bogey, but the payoff was a little slow in coming.

He parred the first six holes, missing a few birdie opportunities, but then made the first of his four birdies on No. 7.

“That gave me a boost of enthusiasm,” said Morgan, who added his second birdie on the next hole. He posted back-to-back birdies again on 16 and 17 to get to 4 under.

“This was one of my better ball-striking rounds of the year,” said Morgan, who won the Greater Portland Open for the second year in a row in June, and also won two other times this summer.

Dantas knows he has his work cut out for him because he played the easier of the two courses first.

“I’ve got to imagine he’s going to do the same or better [at Portland Country Club],” said Dantas.

“I’ve just got to get a good round in here tomorrow,” he added between practice sessions at The Woodlands. “This course is probably three or four shots harder.”

Seavey was hot on the front nine, making the turn at 4-under 31, but could only watch in disbelief as several birdie putts on the back nine hit the edge of the cup but failed to drop.

After today’s round, in which the players switch courses, the field will be cut to the low 60 and ties for Wednesday’s 18-hole final at Portland Country Club.