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CHALLENGE: Junior golfer makes most of opportunity
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Kristi Ingram, 16, became the second female to play in the Forsyth Invitational.
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Published: August 10, 2009
After winning his second straight Forsyth Invitational title last week, Uly Grisette took time to recognize a young golfer making her first appearance.
That golfer was Kristi Ingram, a 16-year-old rising junior at Mount Tabor and just the second female to play in the 62-year-old tournament. She was invited to compete after tying for second in the Forsyth Junior, and she accepted the challenge.
"I saw Kristi play a little bit out here, and that's a great story because she can really play, and that's what this tournament is about," Grisette said. "It's a county-wide tournament, and it's great to see a young girl like her play well in this tournament."
It wasn't totally Ingram's idea to play. She was encouraged by her father, Chris, who also played in the tournament. So did older brother C.J., who plays golf at Winston-Salem State.
Ingram played from the same tees as the men and improved each day, shooting 87-83-76. The only other female to play in the Forsyth was Samantha Romaniw in the early 1990s, also after a good showing in the Forsyth Junior.
Natalie Ingram, Kristi's mother, followed the family around for all three rounds, and she said that the experience Kristi gained this summer will help her during golf season at Mount Tabor.
"I thought she held up pretty good, and she didn't get discouraged," Natalie Ingram said.
Kristi was paired with her brother and father during the first two rounds, then was grouped with three men that she didn't know for the final round at Reynolds Park, where she had her best round.
"I think that made it feel more like a tournament," Kristi said, "because I wasn't playing with my dad or brother."
Ed Nichols was in her foursome for the final round and said he was impressed by her swing and how polite she is. "She can really play," Nichols said.
"It's been fun," Kristi said. "I got frustrated on some holes, but it's been fun for the most part."
Kristi said that playing from the back tees will only help her game mature. It especially helped her short game -- she had to scramble around the greens because of the length of the courses.
"Playing further back in a tournament like this will really help me gain that experience," she said. "I normally practice from the white tees, but this tournament was from the blue tees so I had to hit the ball a lot further."
Kristi has won five Tarheel Youth Golf Association tournaments this summer and has been motivated to keep pace with several friends. She said she keeps tabs on several girls, many of whom also have had outstanding summers.
"There's Victoria Allred, Hannah Craver, Morgan Pegram, Meredith Mock, Erica Clinard, and her sister, Madison, and several others," Ingram said. "So that's great to see."
Bermuda Run's alterations
A renovation of Bermuda Run's main course that will include Champions Bermuda Grass greens is nearly complete. The hybrid form of Bermuda originated in the mid- 1990s in Florida and has been making its way up the East Coast.
"There are some courses in Atlanta that have this type of grass and a few in Charlotte, and it just thrives in the hot weather," said Ted Pegram, the greens superintendent at Bermuda Run.
Pegram said that the course spent about $500,000 to reshape four greens, improve bunkers and plant new grass on all 18 greens. The practice areas also were enhanced, and about 250 trees, most around greens, were removed.
"There has to be at least six to eight hours of sun on these greens a day, so we expanded the surfaces and added around 20,000 square feet to the greens," Pegram said. "There are just more open spaces around the greens, so folks will notice that."
The Bermuda will go dormant and turn brown in winter, but the putting surfaces will be painted green and remain fast. When extreme cold weather hits, the greens will be covered.
The East course, designed by Ellis Maples, has been closed since May but is expected to be open Sept. 4, and Pegram said that everything is on schedule.
"Everybody is excited about the changes," he said. "Six weeks ago, we killed the greens with Roundup, and now the greens are growing very nicely."
Another benefit of the Champions Bermuda is that the greens will need to be aerated only once a year, probably in July, Pegram said.
The old designs of Maples, who built the course in the early 1970s, helped with the shaping of the greens and, Pegram said, "really helped us kind of recapture what Ellis Maples wanted."
Around the green
Stephen Curry, a former Davidson basketball star, and his father, Dell, a former Charlotte Hornets star, are expected to play in the second pro-am at the Wyndham Championship on Aug. 19. Marcy Hart, who plays on the LPGA Tour and lives in Wallburg, will play in the first Aug. 17, and Anna Rawson, who joined the LPGA Tour last year, will play in both. The Wyndham Championship is scheduled Aug. 20-23 at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro….
Sandy Lyle, who won the 1988 Masters, and Nick Price, a two-time PGA Championship winner, have committed to play the Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn, scheduled Sept. 18-20. Also committed are former champions Andy Bean (2006), Jay Haas (2005), Craig Stadler (2003) and R.W. Eaks (2007, 2008), U.S. Senior Open winner Fred Funk and Bermuda Run's Walter Hall, who is in his final season on the Champions Tour. ...
One of the most popular tournaments in the state will be played this week as The Cardinal Amateur will get under way Friday in Greensboro. The tournament will be held at The Cardinal Golf & Country Club, the Pete Dye layout that was redesigned by Dye in 2006. Among the players in the field are Will Bowman, a former player at Forsyth Country Day who plays at UNC Greensboro and has qualified for the U.S. Amateur later this month; Uly Grisette, the Forsyth Invitational champion; and Stokesdale's Drew Younts. ...
Will Bowman, a former Forsyth Country Day golfer now playing at UNC Greensboro, and Terrance Stewart, the men's golf coach at UNCG, had top finishes in qualifiers last week to make the field for the U.S. Amateur scheduled later this month at Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa, Okla. Bowman shot 69-70 at Oak Valley and tied for third; Stewart shot 70-69 and finished second in Williamsburg, Va. ...
Dan Walters, a former All-America golfer at Rollins and an assistant there last season, has been hired as an assistant men's golf coach at Wake Forest. He replaces Chris Yoder, who left Wake Forest after six seasons to become an assistant at Ohio State.
■ John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com.
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