In a way, Mark Kriston turned back time at the 79th Forsyth Amateur Championship. Twenty years, to be exact.
Kriston seized control Sunday on the front nine at Old Town Club and survived a late triple-bogey to win by three strokes over second-round leader Fisher Kennedy. The 42-year-old Kriston shot 2-under-par 68 in the final round, which combined with 68 at Tanglewood Championship and 65 at Maple Chase Country Club gave him an 11-under 202 total for 54 holes.
With the victory, Kriston completed a bit of two-decade circle. He also won in 2006 — the last time he competed in the event. In between, he played professionally for about 19 years on mini tours.
“Let the record say I didn’t play (in the Forsyth Amateur) all those years,” the left-hander joked when told he now owned the record for most years between victories.
Kennedy, a Winston-Salem native and a senior on the Furman University golf team, closed with 72. Troy Blamer shot 70 and finished third at 206. Two-time defending champion Brett Barry shot 74 and finished at 211, one shot behind fourth-place Zach Brown, who posted 70.
Last year, Kriston retired as a player and later regained his amateur status. The Clemmons resident now works in tournament operations for the GProTour, a circuit he played for several years.
“I got old. I hurt my back,” said Kriston. “Life goes on.”
Ironically, Kriston gave Barry credit for convincing him to enter the tournament.
“Kudos to Brett,” Kriston said. “He told me, ‘You need to play. We need the best players to play.'”
Old Town, a Perry Maxwell design ranked in America’s top 40 courses by Golf Magazine and Golf Digest, was host to the top 16 players through 36 holes. The layout, which tops out just over 7,000 yards, played about 6,700 yards.
Kriston got an early jumpstart with an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole and made the turn in 31. He came to the short, par-4 16th with a five-shot advantage over Kennedy in the final pairing.
The only drama of the day came when Kriston hit his 4-iron off the tee right into heavy rough on the short par-4 16th and deemed his ball unplayable. He retied with the same club and put the ball in play. He reached the green in four shots and three-putted, bringing Kennedy within three of the lead.
Kriston said he considered hitting either driver or five-iron on the tee of the 367-yard hole. He said his normal choice would be a 2-iron that he had replaced in his bag with a hybrid.
“I knew in my heart 4-iron wasn’t the right play. It just didn’t feel right,” he said. “It was the only uncommitted shot I hit all day. I kind of lost focus and hit a bad shot.”
Given an opening, Kennedy missed an uphill 15-foot birdie attempt at the iconic, par-5 17th, which shares a double green with No. 8. Faced with a shorter, but downhill birdie putt, Kriston conservatively lagged up for par.
Kriston gave credit to Barry for convincing him to play in the event. Like many non-players in the golf industry, Kinston said he doesn’t get to play very often. Before Friday’s first round, he said his game “wasn’t feeling great.”
“I stayed patient,” he said. “I’ve been around long enough to do that.”
The tournament was the third since Old Town and Forsyth Country Club agreed to rotate playing host to a limited field for the final round. Tournament officials Bobby Hege and Katie Thomas said the tournament would return to Forsyth for the final round next year.
This year, the tournament had 79 participants. The lure of playing the final round at Winston-Salem’s two most-exclusive clubs is credited with boosting the quality of the field.
Forsyth Amateur Championship Final Scores
Mark Kriston 67 67 68 — 202
Fisher Kennedy 68 65 72 — 205
Troy Blamer 72 65 69 — 206
Zach Brown 72 68 70 — 210
Brett Barry 70 67 74 — 211
Stephen Holt 69 70 74 — 213
Conner Fulp 71 71 74 — 216
Larsen Gallimore 75 72 70 — 217
Nathan Barker 74 72 73 — 219
Steven Blakely 98 103 — 201
Tate Coleman 71 72 79 — 222
James Moore 72 75 77 — 224
Eli Kennedy 75 71 78 — 224
Joel Rayfield 72 72 80 — 224
Jeremy Ray 73 72 80 — 225
Ty Keating 74 70 81 — 225
Tom Coleman 69 76 81 226