Grisette's 63 gives him Forsyth Invitational title

CLEMMONS

Uly Grisette's reinstated amateur career is off to a flying start.

Grisette fired a 7 under 63 on Sunday at Tanglewood Park's Championship Course to make up an eight-shot difference to steal the Forsyth Invitational away from defending champion Richard Giles. It was Giles who led after the first and second rounds, but Grisette wound up beating Giles on the third playoff hole.

They were tied at 5 under after 54 holes.

On the third playoff hole, Grisette made a 9-foot par putt to win his first Forsyth and first amateur tournament since being reinstated two weeks ago.

"I had to wait two years to get back my amateur status," said Grisette, 41, who lives in Clemmons and dabbled in pro golf for the last 15 years or so which included playing in a few PGA Tour tournaments. "I tried U.S. Amateur qualifying last week and missed it, but this feels really good to win this tournament."

Grisette, 41, grew up in Davie County and always wanted to play in the Forsyth Invitational. Now he has his first win on his initial try.

"I just remember it was always a big tournament and it was covered so well that it's finally nice to be a part of it," he said. "I was never able to play because we lived in Davie County so this means a lot to me."

When play began Giles was 6 under and had a two-shot lead on Kenny Flynn, who shot 70 and wound up third at 4 under. Flynn had a chance to get into the playoff but missed a 20 foot birdie try on the 18th hole.

"I knew I needed to make that last putt to get into the playoff but I just pushed it a little," said Flynn, the 2000 champion. "I just miss read it a little bit."

Former champion Robert Wooten (70) finished fourth at 1 under.

Grisette was sitting way back in the pack, eight shots behind Giles when play began.

Giles struggled late in his round to shoot a 1 over 71 and actually needed to make a 10-foot bogey putt on 18 to get into the playoff with Grisette, a 1988 graduate of N.C. State where he played on the golf team.

"I'm not disappointed because I did the best that I could," said Giles, who bogeyed the third playoff hole when his approach shot to the par-4 caught some trees on the left side and he was left with a difficult up-hill chip.

He managed to hit his chip shot from well below the hole to about 12 feet, but he left the par putt short which opened the door for Grisette.

"He just hit a bad shot," Grisette said about Giles' approach. "I was able to make par and that was it."

The only time Grisette smiled throughout the playoff was on the second hole when some interested cows from a farm that sits behind the second green started making plenty of noise. Grisette joked afterwards that he considered those Wolfpack howls.

"That wasn't distracting and was actually kind of funny," Grisette said.

What made it difficult for Giles, Flynn and Wooten who were playing in the same group was Grisette was making his move two groups ahead. While Flynn and Wooten didn't mind getting updates on how Grisette was doing, Giles wasn't listening.

Giles said he didn't know he needed to make that last putt on 18 to get into the playoff.

"I kind of had a feeling Uly was doing well ahead of us," Giles said. "I just did as well as I could and then wound up in the playoff. I hit it into three bunkers on 18 and still made bogey so that's pretty good."

Grisette got going early with birdies on 1, 2, 4 and 5. A bogey on six and three straight pars put him at 1 under for the tournament after nine holes. He still trailed Giles by five shots with nine holes to play.

Grisette birdied 10, 15, 17 and 18 to finish with a 63. On 15, the short par 4 that was playing about 345 yards he nearly drove the green, chipped up to about 15 feet and made the putt.

"I knew that Richard would have to come back to me a little bit but as it turned out if he would have shot even par he would have won," Grisette said. "I just tried to make some birdies to see what would happen."

After his round he waited near the 18th green for Giles to finish. He showed no emotion, and when Giles made his bogey putt to force the playoff, Grisette went to the practice putting green to hit a few putts to get ready.

During his first two rounds Grisette said he struggled and shot 71-73 and was 2 over par heading into yesterday's round. One of the things he did change going into the final round was he switched from traditional golf shoes to gym shoes.

"I'm just more comfortable in these shoes and it's what I wear when I'm just banging the ball around at Bermuda Run," Grisette said. "Maybe that made the difference."

Giles, who was trying to become the first repeat winner of the 61-year-old tournament since Walter Hall in the early 1980s, said: "If I would have won this year I might have gotten the big head and stopped practicing or whatever. So this kind of puts me back in my place … I'll be back."

John Dell can be reached at 727-4081 or at jdell@wsjournal.com