Lickliter was hoping to play in the Barracuda Championship – a $3 million PGA Tour event for those who didn’t get into the $9 million World Championship at Firestone.
His wait was in vain. All 132 players showed up for their tee time and another opportunity to make some money was gone. The Franklin native could only board a flight to Ohio where he would spend the weekend with friends before playing an exhibition match Monday afternoon at Troy Country Club.
The last four years have been tough for Lickliter, whose status on the PGA Tour has slipped so much that he is longer listed among the active players in the media guide.
Nearly every week he travels to the city where the PGA event is being played and attempts to qualify in a Monday competition where about 100 players are bidding for three spots in the main event.
Lickliter said he has made the field for five events but has been unable to make the 36-hole cut. “I’ve been close a couple of times,” he reported. “You can shoot 68 and miss by two shots. It’s not like I’m shooting bad numbers.”
Lickliter has career earnings of $11.8 million, but he didn’t make much of it in the last four years. He practices – sometimes with Vijay Singh – at his home at TPC Sawgrass in Jacksonville, Fla.
“I feel as good about my game as I have in a long time,” said Lickliter, who turned 45 last week and has five years to wait before he can play on the PGA’s Champions Tour. “I plan on winning on the tour more than once before getting on the senior tour.”
One benefit of his predicament is the opportunity to watch his two 6-year-old sons grow up. “They’re playing in an all-star baseball travel league,” he said. “I get to coach third base. I’d forgotten how much I love baseball. It’s my second favorite sport.”
In Troy on Monday, Lickliter and three-time U.S. Open champion Hale Irwin will put on a clinic at 1 p.m. before playing 18 holes with local amateurs and pros. The public is invited. There is a $20 admission fee. Proceeds go to Hospice of Miami County.
Chip Shots
Zach Yinger’s victory in last Sunday’s Metropolitan Championship did not come without some anxiety. Although he took a seven-stroke lead into the final round, the 21-year-old Ball State University senior from Sidney bogeyed five of the first eight holes at Piqua Country Club and lost the lead to Jeff Scohy, who birdied three of those eight holes.
Scohy led by two strokes when he eagled No. 11, but Yinger, who had birdied the 11th, played the back nine at 4-under-par for a 73 to win the a 7-under score of 284. Scohy, who shot 69 in the final round, was second at 284.
The 2015 Metropolitan will be played July 23-26 at Beavercreek Golf Club.
• The recent closing of Gem City Golf Club (aka Greene Country Club) has resulted in a change of venue for the Miami Valley Golf Association’s inaugural Mid-Amateur Championship and the Senior Metropolitan. They will be played simultaneously Sept. 4-5 at Miami Valley Golf Club.
• Miami Valley Golf Club celebrated its 95th anniversary late Saturday afternoon with a traditional golf event in which members attempted to play 18 holes in 95 minutes. A dinner followed.
• Those expecting to play in the City of Dayton Men’s Stroke Play Championship Aug. 7-10 or the Senior Stroke Play event Aug. 7-8 must register by 4 p.m. Monday. Both will be played at Kittyhawk Golf Center.
• Reacting to a long slump in golf sales, Dick’s Sporting Goods has dropped nearly 500 PGA pros working in its stores. Among them were four former Dayton area club pros – Roy Carmichael, Tim Krapfel, Dave Longley and Jim Neff.
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