The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 49

The Indianapolis Star SUNDAY, JULY 11, 1982 Section Golf Spoti spotlight in POM Public Links Mayflower on the 446yard finishing hole makes that dangerous. A tee ball hit down the middle will not necessarily be in the best position. "You'd be better off to the right on the fairway," said Hayslett, noting, "There's a birch tree to aim at from the tee. That opens up the second shot to the green much better." The toughest green to putt will be the 10th, Hayslett believes. "That green has the most severe breaks of any on the course.

More players will three putt there than on any other green," he said. ONE GETS THE impression there aren't any easy holes situated on Ea gle Creek's 374 acres. The first hole can be critical in spite of being one of the shorter par 4s on the course at 362 yards. "It can be a simple par 4 or a difficult double bogey," said Hayslett, indicating the ball off the tee has to be positioned for a clear second shot. No.

3 is a long (445 yards) par 4 with a green that slopes from front to back. "It's a tough two-putt." explained superintendent Chris Hague, who has been applying top dressing to all of the greens twice weekly for the last few months and three times a week lately. See PUBLIC LINKS Page 3D By BILL PICKETT The United States Golf Association's Amateur Public Links Championship is up for grabs this year in the absence of two-time titlist Jodie Mudd. The winner in 1980 and '81, Mudd has joined the pro circuit, leaving this year's over the 7,107 yards at Eagle Creek G.C. wide open.

A field of 159 will tee off beginning at 7:15 Monday morning in the first 18 holes of qualifying. The qualifying second round will be Tuesday, and the low 64 scorers will begin match play Wednesday. The final 36 hole battle for the championship is scheduled Saturday. According to host professional Jerry Hayslett, however, this year's winner will be a Jodie Mudd type he was 20 when he won for the first time, 21 a year ago. Hayslett doesn't expect anyone to shoot the lights out in qualifying.

He figures a one-under par 143 or even figures of 144 could earn medalist honors. "THIS IS A marathon-type tournament," Hayslett explained. "It probably will take a well conditioned young player from the college ranks to win it." After a single match-play round Wednesday, the field will be cut to 32, double rounds will follow Thursday and Friday, setting up the 36 holes on the final day. "It doesn't have to be a long hitter, either," said Hayslett, who may be the first pro to be host to two Publinx championships. He ran Coffin G.C.

when the city hosted the event in 1972. Eagle Creek's yardage is honest. "There's a lot of hidden yardage on some of our par 5s." Hayslett pointed out. "The 14th (538 yards) probably will give up the most birdies. But it will take a good second shot to set them up." Otherwise, he noted, the remaining par 5s will be tough to play in sub par figures.

Nos. 9 (581 yards) and 11 (563 yards) are especially tough par 5s. "IF YOU MISS the green at the ninth you can just about forget bird ie," Hayslett said. If the 14th is likely to surrender the most birdies, Hayslett thinks Nos. 16 and 18 will provide the fewest.

The player will have to hit a tee shot of 220 to 240 yards to get in position for a medium iron to the green, he explained. "And the second shot must be accurate," he added. "There's no good either right or left and the green has a severe break." The narrow landing area for drives So will that of the tour's Big Mama, JoAnne Carner, who was the leading the money winner going into the West Virginia Classic at Wheeling, which concludes today. Other top names not entered are Nancy Lopez, who hasn't played here since 1978, and the tour's grande dame, Kathy Whitworth. All may have detoured Indy to prepare for next week's Open championship.

1 But apologies aren't necessary. There will be more than enough sweet swings to satisfy the galleries whose numbers are expected to exceed the 42,500 who attended the 1981 tournament. The two most successful players of recent weeks, Sandra Haynie and Jan Stephenson, will play. Between them, they have captured the last four LPGA events. AN LPGA HALL of Famer from Texas who has won 40 tournaments in a pro career that began 20 years ago, Haynie's last six finishes have been third, second, seventh, fourth, first and first.

She's now third in winnings. Stephenson, the attractive Australian now playing out of Fort Worth, Texas, has overcome personal prob lems to finish 11th or better in seven of her last eight tournaments. See MAYFLOWER Page 3D Some call money the root of all evil. But in professional golf, it is the fertilizer for good fields. Take, for example, the sixth Mayflower Classic which begins Thursday at the Country Club of Indianapolis.

The Ladies Professional Golf Asso-ciation event will have 14 of the circuit's current top 20 money winners. They come to Indianapolis for a mostly green reason: The Mayflower's $200,000 purse, $30,000 of which goes to the winner. Only three other stops on the 38 tournament LPGA schedule offer more money. Five others equal that total. And not until the season ending J.C.

Penney Classic will there be another tournament with as much ante in the kitty. Thus, 88 players are entered in the 72 hole event. That's the good news. The bad news is that four of the LPGA's biggest names won't be among them. THAT NUMBER includes a former Mayflower champion, 1979 winner Hoi lis Stacy.

Originally scheduled to compete on the course where she won the 1978 S. Women's Open, Stacy withdrew Friday. Her perky presence will be missed by the galleries. Debbie Austin played, coached overseas in France Purkh ise. Purdue ace had Ex By BILL BENNER You can follow the park or you can chart your own course.

Bob Purkhiser opted for the lat ter. As a young man, he went to a foreign country, France, to play an American game, basketball. He played so well that the French considered him their best player. i And, indeed, he was one of them, having married a French girl, having become a French citizen. But Friday, on the outskirts of the racing town, LeMans, the special life of that special man came to a tragic end.

Purkhiser, the former Purdue basketball and baseball standout from Blufftpn, was killed in 1MB.I)IJIIIIIMM! discovered his ability with a basketball. It was a union that grew and strengthened until Friday. Rosenstihl learned of Purkhiser's death from his father, Robert Sr. Purkhiser's parents now operate a fishing lodge in northern Michigan, near the Canadian border. Young Bob, an avid fishermen, would return to the U.S.

every summer. HE WOULD always find time to visit with his old coach. Rosenstihl, and the talk usually was basketball. "Of course, he was looking at the game now from a different perspective, that of a coach. He would ask question after question," said Rosenstihl.

"I tell you, I never could have asked for a better kid to coach. That is why this is just such a tragedy." "You know," said Bob King, "I always thought that guys like Bob Purkhiser and Rick Mount exemplified Hoosier basketball. You know, kids from small towns who grew up shooting at the basket on the side of the barn. And they did it over and over again, every day, until they could shoot it like nobody else. That's what I like to think of as Indiana basketball." Thanks to Purkhiser, that talent we like to think of as so distinctly Hoosier found its way overseas, to a new, highly appreciative audience.

Bob Purkhiser, ambassador for Indiana basketball, will be buried in France. a one car accident. Purkhiser, 38, had just re turned from Taiwan where, as coach of the his own French championship team, he had guided the squad to a third-place finish in an international tournament. THE MAN Purdue assistant athletic director Bob King remembers as, "a fabulous shooter, probably the greatest I ever saw with the exception of Rick Mount," had been in France since the late 1960s. In the European League, he was voted most valuable player two times.

And the expatriated American was known in France as the "Babe Ruth of French basketball," according to King. "He was Mr. Big in the European League," said another former Boilermaker playing in Europe, Frank Kendrick. Those who maintained contact with Purkhiser King, who recruited him to Purdue, and his old high school coach, Jim Rosenstihl said his death came at a time when he had been his happiest. He was rapidly becoming as good a bench coach as he had been a player.

Off the court, he and his wife, Suzy, were experiencing the joys of raising their 4-year-old daughter, Kelly. IRONICALLY, his wife was in Singapore at the time of Purk-hiser's fatal accident. She had accompanied him to the Taiwan tournament, but had stayed behind with other wives while he coach at Butler, Purkhiser led Big Ten pitchers in earned run average for two straight seasons. He signed a professional contract with the Twins, but a major league career never took root. After college, Rosenstihl, who had moved to Lebanon, took Purkhiser on as an assistant.

It was then that another friend ship was born. Purkhiser took a liking to a young phenom with a spit curl hanging down onto his forehead. The name was Rick Mount. "He really helped Rick," said Rosenstihl. "I had him play Rick one on-one in practice on all our half court stuff." IT WAS no coincidence that Mount eventually chose to enroll at Purdue.

While at Lebanon, though, Purkhiser discovered the sea mier side of life. His sports car was stolen from an Indianapolis nightclub parking lot. Four men who had done engine work on Purkhiser's car were arrested, but they later claimed the theft was part of a scheme for Purkhiser to collect insurance money. Eventually, the charges were dropped. "There was nothing to any of that," said Rosenstihl.

"The only thing Bob was guilty of was associating with the wrong people." From Lebanon, Purkhiser found his way into the armed forces and from there, he discovered Europe. And Europe Bob Purkhiser as Boilermaker standout returned to France with his team. Rosenstihl, now the coach at Lebanon High School, was one of the first to know of Purk-hiser's many athletic gifts. He coached Bob at Bluffton and Purkhiser made the 1961 Indian a All Star team. At Purdue, under Coach Ray Eddy, Purkhiser was a three year starter and the Boiler maker captain as a senior, when he averaged 20 points a game.

He finished his basketball ca reer with 1,060 points, and is the 16th leading scorer in Purdue history. Unfortunately, the Boiler makers didn't have any out standing seasons. And he fol lowed Terry Dischinger and played with both Mel Garland and Dave Schellhase. Pretty fast company. As a result, Purk-hiser's talents were somewhat overlooked.

"He was a much finer player than people knew," said King. "He was an awfully tough competitor, very strong and physical. Even at 62, he played at forward A lot and held his own against bigger guys." AND HE COULD flat shoot it. In fact, the current Big Ten record for consecutive field goals, 18, remains the property of Bob Purkhiser. "I still remember the one he missed," said King.

"It was at our place against Minnesota. A layup." Purkhiser could hit another target: The strike zone. Playing for Joe Sexson, now basketball to begin the 10th game, then netted a backhand as the Swedes fell behind, love-30. The Swedes won the next two points to pull even before the U.S. pair swept the next two points and the opening set.

Again it was Simonsson's serve which was broken in the fourth game of the second set, giving the Americans a 31 lead. Fleming then served two double-faults to fall behind, 15 40, but it was the closest the Swedes would come the rest of the afternoon. The Americans ran off the next four points to take a 41 lead, then held serve the rest of the way to capture the second set. IN THE THIRD set, McEnroe and Fleming conducted a doubles clinic, serving well when they had to, dominating the net, changing pace and stroking winners from the baseline. The only problem they had was in the fifth game when they broke Jarryd.

The game lasted 18 points and the two teams battled through six deuces before McEnroe closed it out with a cross court forehand service return. In Friday's opening singles, McEnroe downed Jarryd, 10 8, 6 3, 6 3, while Wilander stopped Teltscher, 6-4, 7-5, 3-6, 3 6, 64r McEnroe, Fleming win in straight sets 1 uuld lead St. Louis (AP) John McEnroe and pressure are constant companions, and the tempetuous lefthander from New York turns it into another weapon in his well-equipped arsenal. "It's tough to stay on top," McEnroe said after he teamed with Peter Fleming to crush Anders Jarryd and Hans Simonsson, 6-4, 6-3, 6-0, in doubles Saturday and give the United States a 21 lead over Sweden in their Davis Cup tennis quarterfinal match. "It's a lot easier when you're trying to get there." IT WAS THE first time the American pair have faced competition since they lost the doubles final at Wimble SPORTS Tribe pounds Denver, 13-3 Page Women's track field set for iVSF Page in don last Sunday in straight sets to Australians Peter McNamara and Paul McNam.ee.

"We're not playing better as a team then we ever have before," McEnroe said. "Lately, we've had our problems. We should play all our matches like this. A couple of years ago, we were concentrating on the doubles more. I guess we've gone into outer space or something." McEnroe said Sweden's doubles' team "were not at their best today.

But they are young and will be back the future." The Swedes were thoroughly impressed with their opponents. "I was surprised" on how quickly Simonsson and Jarryd were dis- INDEX 2 Big Fish 11 Bob Collins 2 Golf Scene 12 Jock Nicklous 12 tines Shots 10 Scoreboard 14 Stan Smith 9 7 patched, said Hans Olsson, captain of the Swedish Davis Cup squad. "McEnroe and Fleming played very well. It was difficult for our players to get into the match. "McENROE AND Fleming played better and better as it went on." Olsson also thought the loss at Wimbledon may have played a part in the Americans' Davis Cup play.

"I had hoped we'd have a better chance," he said. "But McEnroe had just lost at Wimbledon and that may have affected his play." Today's concluding singles will send Jarryd against American Eliot Teltscher and McEnroe against Mats Wilander, the 17-year-old Swede who was the surprise winner of the French Open last month. The winner of this best-of-five-match competition will advance to the semifinals against Australia. For Jarryd and Simonsson, it was their first Davis Cup doubles defeat. But it was administered by one of the world's top doubles team.

THE HARD-SERVING Simonsson held his first two serves at love and Jarryd, who had to battle through a deuce before holding his first service, appeared the weaker of the two. But the Americans made the first break agairfeis Simonsson. The dougle-faulted Joho McEnroe gives back of ls hand to Swedes.