BY JACK MURRAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Without fanfare, Dick Plummer will retire as a PGA club professional when he turns 65 on Christmas Day.
"It's time to go," Plummer said Sunday from the Camargo Club, where has been employed for 38 years, the last 34 as head pro.
Since becoming a member of the PGA of America in 1964, he won the 1973 Ohio Open; was the 1974 Southern Ohio PGA Champion and 1985 SOPGA Senior Champion. He won the Ohio Senior Open in 1989 and 1992. He's been Greater Cincinnati Chapter PGA champion 10 times (five match-play and five stroke-play), player of the year six times, and qualified for one U.S. Open, four PGA Championships and U.S. Senior Opens, and three PGA Seniors.
His Camargo connection goes back to 1946, when he started caddying, and continued through his Blanchester High days.
"I know I'm going to miss it," Plummer was quoted in Tri-State Golf Magazine. "I've basically spent my entire life being associated with this golf club. But we own a home in Naples, and I owe it to my wife, Joy, who has stuck by me for 42 years, and my four children, to give them some time."
Plummer is renowned locally for his golf instruction. Notable pupils include Louise Kepley, Janie Dumler and Robert Gerwin. He hopes to continues teaching part-time at Camargo.
FRONT NINE:
Plummer, along Crest Hills head pro Bob Hauer and the late Claude Rost of Coca-Cola, founded the annual Pro-Am Matches, between select members of the Greater Cincinnati Golf Association amateurs and top local club pros, in 1968.
In this year's event, Kyle Voska was named most outstanding performer in the amateurs' 26-22 victory over the local pros Friday at Traditions.
Voska birdied No. 9 and partner Tee McCabe birdied No. 18 in the best-ball portion en route to a 6-0 whitewash of their opponents. The amateur team has won three of the last four Pro-Am Matches and four in this decade, but the pros still lead the series 24-6-1.
Gerwin and Voska, two-time reigning Metropolitan champion, head the local contingent for the U.S. Amateur beginning today at Oak Hill in Rochester, N.Y.
Other area golfers among the 312 entrants: Kyle Elfers, Chris Straley, Jim Ebel, Kettering Alter grad Randy Leen and Connersville's Randy Nichols.
Last year, Gerwin lost to eventual champion Matt Kucher in the quarterfinals and was exempt from qualifying this year. Leen then lost to Kucher in the semifinals.
Franklin's Frank Lickliter's tie for fourth in last week's PGA Championship eclipsed Northern Kentuckian Ralph Landrum's tie for eighth in the 1983 U.S. Open as the best finish in modern golf's four majors by a local player.
Lickliter, 29, playing in his first PGA Championship, earned a career-high $118,000 and an invitation to the 1999 Masters.
"Knowing I was right there with a chance to win felt good," he said. "I was surprised how calm I felt."
Lickliter's finish was his best of the year and matched the tie for fourth in the 1997 Canadian Open.
Johnny Bench, who turned 50 in December, ranks 178th on the Senior PGA Tour with $1,767 after two recent tournaments. He is allowed one more sponsor exemption for the year and plans to take it for the Kroger Classic next month at the Golf Center at Kings Island.
BACK NINE:
On Aug. 14, Kenwood assistant pro Dan Gage shot 12-under-par 61, featuring nine birdies and an eagle, to better the Kendale Course record by four strokes.
Harmon's Dick James won the SOPGA Senior Championship Aug. 13-14 at Columbus Country Club.
Julie Palmer (St. Ursula) won the Ohio Women's Amateur Championship in Canton Aug. 7.
Chris Sabo earned a special exemption into the 96th Western Amateur Championship at Benton Harbor, Mich. He shot 74-76 and missed the cut by five.
Martha Leach of Hebron and Natalie Tucker of Lawrenceburg qualified for match play at the U.S. Women's Amateur. Leach lost in the second round of match play, Tucker in the first round.
Moeller freshman Nick Wunder finished tied for 30th at the Maxfli PGA Junior Championship on the par-72 PGA National Golf Club's Champion course at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.
