Defending champ Kenny Hess in hunt at 88th W.Va. Open
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BRIDGEPORT -- During a difficult opening round here Wednesday at the 88th West Virginia Open Championship, only two players finished in the red after play concluded at the Pete Dye Golf Club.
Amateurs Nick Fleming of Cabins and Mason Williams of Bridgeport carded respective 1-under par 71s to share the early lead.
Pro David Bradshaw from Harpers Ferry along with amateur Christian Boyd of Charles Town were the only golfers to finish at even par and are tied for third.
Parkersburg South graduate and pro Kenny Hess, the defending champ, carded a 1-over par 73 and enters day two in a three-way tie for fifth.
"The hole locations on the back nine were about as hard as I've played in any event," admitted Hess, who won the Coca-Cola Shootout on Tuesday and played alongside Ravenswood's Alex Easthom and Huntington's Pat Carter, who was a shot back and is in a seven-way tie for eighth place.
"Pat Carter was not happy. He was upset. He goes 'I've played in 13 U.S. Amateurs and I've never played in a setup that difficult' and he was not happy. He is so good for being 52 years old."
Hess, who is set to tee off at 8:30 a.m. today with the same grouping, started his round on the back nine and was 1-over at the turn with eight pars and a bogey on the par-5, 15th. Following a birdie at No. 2 to get back to even, he made his only other bogey at the par-5 fifth.
"I didn't really play that well today. I played well enough to kind of scrap it around," admitted Hess, who watched Easthom open the back nine at plus-9 before he rallied with two birdies on the front against just one bogey to stand in an 18-way tie for 37th place at plus-8 along with Gilmer County graduate Philip Reale, Parkersburg grad Isaac Prine, Ritchie County alumnus Ben Knight and Parkersburg's Mike Koreski.
"I hit a lot of greens in the wrong spots. I made a lot of 5-footers for par. I didn't have a good look for birdie until two and I hit it to about 4 feet, and number three I hit a shot to about 5 or 6 feet, questionable line I picked and hit a bad shot. I had a lot of real good saves for par and a lot of grinding holes."
Following a rain storm on Monday, Hess said there was little to no roll at all in the fairways.
"It's not out there," admitted Hess of anyone having the ability to go low on Wednesday. "It was not out there today. Someone shooting under 70 was not possible today.
"It was too difficult and the scoring average showed it. They got about two inches of rain Monday night. We were cart path only."
Following today's second round, the field will be cut to the top 60 golfers and ties before Friday's final 18 holes.
Other golfers from the Mid-Ohio Valley who are competing include St. Marys' Cason Edwards (T79, +13), Vienna's Chuck Henderson (T79, +13), Parkersburg's Ben Palmer (T87, +14), Spencer's Cole Moore (T108, +17). St. Marys' Steven Nutter (T108, +17), Vienna's Joel Suder (T108, +17), Ripley's Nathan McKinney (T114, +18), Parkersburg's Matt Moore (T125, +20) and Spencer's Garrett Simon (T130, +27).
"I tee off when it's like 60 degrees and I'll be done at 12:30," Hess noted. "I'm in a good spot. I put a really good week of grinding in to get ready for this. Trying to get the game where it needs to be. It's close. Trying to get some work done tomorrow."