Mark Plummer tees off on the 18th hole at the 2017 Maine Amateur Golf Championships at Brunswick Golf Club on Tuesday morning.
There’s something fascinating about local sports legends.
Maybe it’s because there is the sense that, in a way, it’s more legitimate than a national star. Or maybe more pure is a better way to put it, because the status comes not from a marketing machine but from actual accomplishment.
When it comes to the Maine Amateur golf championship, Mark Plummer is not only a legend, he is the legend. From 1973 to 2002, Plummer won the Maine Am 13 times, more than anyone in the 100-year history of the tournament.
The 2017 Maine Amateur is being played at Brunswick Golf Club, the site of Plummer’s 10th championship in 1997.
“It’s a lot longer,” he said with a laugh. “About 500 yards longer. For me, anyway. On the card it’s the same.”
During Tuesday’s opening round, Plummer, 65, was everything one might want from a legend.
He seemed to know everyone. Throughout the round, he recognized course spotters and other tournament workers and volunteers, and took time to shake their hands and quickly chat with them as he was walking to his next shot.
He might not have known the other spotters, but most of them knew him. A few asked, “Is that Mark Plummer?” (Of course, he’s easy to spot, with his legendary walrus mustache.)
Add that to the fact that Plummer, based at Augusta Country Club, is still a player. He was playing in a threesome with Oxford’s Joe Baker, who finished third at last year’s Maine Am and who plays out of Martindale, and Scott Sirois of The Woodlands Club.
The three spent most of the round essentially matching each other shot-for-shot. Plummer’s drives often were shorter — though usually not by much — but they often were straighter. Even when he had a wayward tee shot, he managed to work his way to the green in the same number of shots as Baker and Sirois.
That’s pretty impressive, especially considering Baker finished at 3-under-par and is among the leaders after one day, and Sirois was at 1-under before an out-of-bound shot derailed him on the 18th hole. He finished at 1-over.
Plummer ended the round with a 2-over-par 74, highlighted by a pair of birdies.
“You can’t win it today, but you can sure shoot yourself out of it today, and I don’t think I did that,” Plummer said.
His one blemish came on the par-3 13th, a scary hole with a drastic slope on the right side of the green that drops into a pond. Plummer’s ball caught the slope and took a ride down. It stayed in bounds, but left Plummer in a tough spot. He needed two chip shots to reach the green, and then two-putted for a double bogey.
Meanwhile, Baker birdied the hole.
“Great two,” Plummer told him.
Sirois earned a par.
“Great three,” Plummer said.
On 14, Baker fell victim to a similar slope to the one that befell Plummer on the previous hole.
Baker’s subsequent chip shot sent the ball and a clump of muddy debris onto the green.
“Oh, one hell of a shot,” Plummer said. “Just like on TV.”
Those two holes were a brief glimpse of the entire round for the threesome. From the first hole, Plummer, Baker and Sirois were chatting each other up and complimenting each other’s shots.
Especially Plummer.
“He’s a pretty genuine guy out there,” Sirois said. “He’s just relaxed and laid back, and I think it spills over to everyone else in the group.”
It was a good group, yes, but more than that it was a fun group.
“It felt like a casual, laid back round of golf today. Good company and great people to play with,” Sirois said. “Pretty laid back.”
Sirois expects nothing to change in the second round, when the stakes are higher and making the cut is on the line.
“I can’t imagine Mark, either of those guys, getting nervous,” he said.
Plummer wants to do more than make the cut. His last Maine Amateur title came in 2002, when he finished off a three-peat for the second time in his career. He’s itching for more.
“I’d like to get one more,” Plummer said. “I’ve been kind of stuck on 13 for (15) years, so I’d kind of like to get one more.”
Scott Sirois tees off from the 17th hole as Mark Plummer follows the ball during the first day of the 2017 Maine Amateur Championship at Brunswick Golf Club on Tuesday morning.
From left, Scott Sirois, Joe Baker and Mark Plummer follow the progress of Plummer’s putt on the Brunswick Golf Club at the 2017 Maine Amateur Championships on Tuesday morning.
Joe Baker tees off at the 17th hole on Tuesday morning on the first day of the 2017 Maine Amateur Championships at Brunswick Golf Club.
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