12 Thursday, October 16, 1986 / University Daily Kansan KU player improves golf game By JANE ZACHMAN Sports writer Susan Pekar began playing golf when she was nine years old, but at that time she played just for fun. Marqie Chambers/KANSAN "At the country club where my mom and dad played, there was a junior program," Pekar said. "We could walk around with our parents or play with them, and playing was more fun." Now Pekar, a Wausau, Wis. junior, takes the game seriously, and that's made her one of the top golfers on the KU women's golf team. Susan Pekar, Wausau, Wis. junior, practices for the KU Invitational at Alvamar Golf and Country Club. Pekar, a member of the Kansas women's golf team, practiced last week for the tournament, which will be held Oct. 20-21 at the club. Her turnabout began in the spring. She helped lead the team to its first tournament win ever by tying for second place in individual competition at the North-South Classic in Ocala, Fla., in March. Florida is lucky for Pekar. She placed eighth in the Seminole Invitational in September. Pekar and the Jayhawks will be able to test themselves on their home course Monday and Tuesday when they serve as hosts for the Jayhawk Invitational Tournament at Alvamar Golf and Country Club. Pekar's second place finish in Florida last spring was surprising considering she had only three weeks to prepare for the tournament. She had reconstructive surgery on her foot three months earlier, in December 1985, and had to wear a cast for five weeks. She couldn't go out to the golf course until the last week of February. Pekar got her cast removed at the end of January, but still couldn't walk around on the course. Instead of just laying on practice, though. Pekar went out on the chipping green and practiced her short game, putting and chipping. "I went out and practiced chipping for two hours every day. Then I'd go home," she said. "I was so bored of doing the same thing all the time." It paid off in the long run, though. Pekar carne back with more confidence in her short game than ever before. She said confidence always had been a problem because she was never consistent. "One day I'd play good and one day I'd play bad," she said. "Chipping helped make the targets seem bigger, opening up more possibilities," she said. "Now if I miss a green, I don't get nervous." Then the team went to the tournament in Florida, and Pekar said she thought she had finally accomplished something. "I felt like I had made progress," she said. "I had taken a step forward, and I didn't want to go back. I wanted to improve some more." Pekar shot rounds of 79, 76, and 40, (only nine holes were played in the last round), which put her in a tie for second. She shot two to three strokes better than what she was used to shooting. As a sophomore, Pekar shot an average score of 83. KU head coach Kent Weiser said Pekar showed great improvement. "From where she came from till now is extraordinary," he said. "She's gone through some tough times, as all athletes do, but she's turned her problems into advantages." Maureen Kelly, a former tricaptain of the team, said Pekar always had been one of the quieter "She's a very intense player," Kel- lv said. players on the team. "She had the ability (to do well) when she was a freshman, she just didn't have as much control over it. Now she's more capable of playing hard when she needs to." Pekar said she was not happy shooting a round of 80 anymore. "Last year shooting under 80 was fantastic." Pekar said. "If I shot 80 or 81 it was average. "Now if I shoot 40 I'm mad. My target score is 78." Weiser said, "It was kind of funny. She didn’t know why she was playing well. You can’t put it into words. It’s a feeling, like riding a bike. You never lose that." Pekar said that now she had a better perspective on golf. KU tennis head coach Scott Perelman had a premonition, a very good premonition. "Before, I just got really upright," she said. "I think I analyzed my game too much. I was too critical." "I tried not to do bad instead or trying to do well." 3v ANNE LUSCOMBE Sports writer Perelman takes on alma mater Something told him that when the men's tennis team went to the Ball State Invitational in Muncie, Ind., this weekend it would be victorious. The tournament will be a homecoming of sorts for Perelman, who used to be a player, coach and assistant athletic director at Ball State. The dire importance of his team winning, just because it's his alma mater has faded — a little. "I think the first few times, especially the first time, I went back it was something important to me." Perelman said yesterday. "Now it's just become another class event. But they (KU players) all know me well enough to know it's important." Senior Mike Wolf said, "We'd like to do well so he'll feed us at our favorite place. All the guys like it except Larry (Pascal)." Perelman said he felt good about the group he was taking to the tournament: Wolf, junior Sven Groeneveld, freshman Craig Wildey, junior Kevin Brady, Pascal, a junior, and freshman Chris Walker. The doubles pairings are Wolf and Pascal, Walker and Wildey, and Groeneveld and Brady. "We've got a really good mix of upper- and underclassmen," Perelman said. "We've got guys that can play at the top and feel comfortable." This is the first event of the fall season Kansas will play as a team. The other tournaments all have been open, where the players play as individuals and not as a队. Often times teammates play against each other in the open tournaments. "I think there is more to the team events than individual events," said Wolf, KU's No. 1 player. "You become concerned about the other guys just as much as yourself." Kansas, the only Big Eight Conference team in the tournament, will go up against Northwestern, Ohio State, Purdue, Western Michigan, Ball State, Miami of Ohio and Illinois. PSYCHOLOGY Graduate School Advising Thursday, Oct. 16 4 p.m.,3139 Wescoe Leading Edge Model "L" Series Modem 300-1200 Baud or 300-2400 Baud Ubord or 300-2400 Baud Half-card Auto-Anwerer, Auto-Dial *Compatible* Ful Half Duplex Ful Half Dualex Ful Leading Edge,"IBM" Ful Leading Edge,"IBM" 1200B only $149.95 2400B only $289.00 Two-year warranty For Leading Edgea, IBMb and Compatibles COMPUTER OUTLET 843-PLUG(7584) 804 New Hampshire LEADING EDGE AUTHORIZED PETAL DEALER $ \Delta\mathbf{X}-\Gamma\Phi\mathbf{B} $ 3rd Annual Shrimp & Löwenbrau Function Oct. 16,1986 --- THE MAIN EVENT Phyllis Schlafly - Leading opponent of ERA - Voted Top Ranking Woman by Republican National Committee VS TONIGHT 7:30 p.m. Ball Room Main Union Sarah Weddington - Victorious lawyer in the Supreme Court case for legalizing abortion - Foremost attorney in feminist movement Paid for by the University of Kansas Student Lecture Series ---