Parkersburg pro Kenny Hess finished third place at the 91st West Virginia Open, which concluded Friday at Edgewood Country Club. (Photo provided)

SISSONVILLE — Former Shady Spring Tiger and current West Virginia University golfer Todd Duncan captured the 91st West Virginia Open title here Friday at Edgewood Country Club after finishing 16-under par during the three-day event.

Charleston pro and ex-Marshall University golfer Will Evans, who like Duncan also made birdie at No. 18, was a stroke back at 15-under. Evans opened with a 9-under effort on Wednesday, but finished with consecutive rounds of 68.

Parkersburg pro Kenny Hess carded a 3-under par effort of 68 on Friday after shooting a 68 on Wednesday and a 67 on Thursday to finish alone in third place.

“If you would’ve told me going into the week I would’ve shot 10 then I probably would’ve taken it,” admitted the 2020 W.Va. Open champ. “That’s an acceptable week of golf. I can’t complain shooting 10-under par.

“That’s solid golf. The course got tough the last day. Greens were getting really bouncy. Balls were just bouncing and going off the back of the green. It got tough. Shooting those numbers I’m very happy with.”

Hess finished the front nine at 1-under, but suffered two early bogeys at No. 2 and No. 4, a pair of par-3s.

“A lot of it had to do with putting,” admitted Hess. “I was trying to play the ball where it might be able to bounce and not bounce over the back of the green.

“Two times in the first five holes I had like 70-foot putts uphill and just three-putted them. I made up for it with a lot of birdies in the middle of those bogeys, so it wasn’t that bad.”

Hess finished a stroke ahead of both Kermit’s Davey Jude and Hurricane’s Christian Brand, who tied for fourth.

“It’s crazy,” Hess said of the purse. “I made more because of what (Craig) Berner did to raise money. He’s the head pro at Edgewood. For what he did to earn money for sponsorships, I made more second place pro this year than I did winning in 2020.

“I mean significantly more. I think I made six grand in 2020 and I made $8,500 today. I got a text from a guy. He goes ‘you can eat tonight.'”

Hess was more than pleased with his effort this week despite not getting the top prize.

“I went back to Florida for three weeks,” he said. “I intentionally went to Florida for three weeks to prep for this event because my preparation is much better down there than it is up here. Grinding three weeks in a row just to prep for this, to show up and put up those numbers I’m very pleased with because I’m tired. Like it’s been a lot of work.

“Three weeks coming into this trying and wanting to win it and putting up those numbers and getting beat by six is tip the cap at great play to Todd and Will. They both played great golf. The preparation was there. I’m glad I saw the results of how much work I’ve put in the last couple weeks. I had my brother on the bag for all three days. He was great at reading greens for me. We had a great chemistry together. It was really cool to have my brother caddie for me at kind of a higher level than just like a fun little event. It was neat with family and my mom around.”

Hess’ birdie on the closing hole allowed him to finish in third place.

“I knew what Davey was at and I was playing with Christian,” Hess added. “I knew I had a one shot lead on Christian going into the last hole. Before I hit my chip shot to get up-and-down for birdie on 18, he hit a great flop shot to like 3 feet.

“I was like ‘OK, I have to get up-and-down because I know he’s going to make his.’ I almost made my chip shot and then had a kick-in to get to 10 and be solo third. I was pretty sure that I needed to get to 10-under to get to solo third.”

Harpers Ferry pro David Bradshaw, a 12-time champion, finished tied for sixth with Milton’s Noah Mullens at 7-under.

Hurricane’s Mitch Hoffman shot 6-under and was eighth place, while St. Clairsville pro Thadd Obecny II and Huntington’s Cam Roam tied for ninth at 5-under.

Ravenswood’s Alex Easthom collected $4,000 for being the fifth-best pro. Easthom shot 2-under on Friday en route to finishing 4-under for the tournament. He ended up tied for 11th with South Charleston’s Joseph Kalaskey.

Spencer pro Cole Moore (T37th, +6) as well as Parkersburg’s Ben Kunselman (T48th, +11) and Ben Palmer (T50th, +12) also made the cut for the final round.

“I’m not exactly sure,” Hess replied when asked what’s next for him. “I would like to play some of the GPRO Tour the rest of the summer before Q-school.

“I played in three back in March, April and had a decent showing at one of them. I’d like to get back on that tour for the rest of the summer if I can financially do it, and also go to Q-school, which will be in the fall.”