ROLL WITH IT : Wendy Macpherson Made Mark Quickly on Pro Bowling

In their respective sports, Bob Feller, Mike Tyson, Steve Cauthen and Tracy Austin were athletic prodigies. It seemed wherever their names were mentioned, the phrase “the youngest to . . . “ was sure to follow.

Wendy Macpherson, 20, of Rancho Bernardo, is “the youngest to . . . “ of women’s bowling.

In April 1986, Macpherson was an 18-year-old senior at Las Lomas High School in Walnut Creek. She had competed and won numerous junior bowling tournaments but had never entered a professional event.

The women’s U.S. Open was being held the same week as her Easter vacation.

“I had received a guest entry into it from a friend who was a professional bowler,” Macpherson said. “I just went out and decided I’d give it a try. I figured it would be a great experience just being there.”

In Topeka, Kan., Macpherson astounded everyone, becoming the youngest player and second amateur to win the most prestigious title in women’s bowling. Lorrie Nichols in 1971 was the previous youngest (20) and first amateur.

“We never thought she would be in the top 54, which was the first cut,” said her father, Chris Macpherson. “After the first day, we got the paper and we were looking for the dark print, her name was usually in dark print in the local paper. We began looking from the bottom of the list and kept going. We were amazed to find her name at the top. She was in first place.”

While she eventually slipped, Macpherson remained among the leaders and qualified fifth for the stepladder finals. She then defeated veterans Anne Marie Pike, Cheryl Daniels, Patty Ann and two-time champion Patty Costello to advance to the title match against Lisa Wagner.

After a strike and two spares, Macpherson went on a roll. With Wagner struggling, she threw nine strikes in a row to win, 265-179.

“It was beyond my belief,” recalls Macpherson. “I couldn’t believe I was bowling as well as I was. I had never experienced anything like that before.

“It was basically over three quarters of the way through. I began thinking, what am I going to do with all this money?”

After graduating in June 1986, Macpherson used her $12,000 prize money from the Open and became the youngest to go on the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour. Last May, she became the youngest to win the Women’s International Bowlers Congress Queens tournament, second in prestige to the Open.

She is still the LPBT’s youngest regular bowler--and one of the best. At the conclusion last week of the women’s summer tour, she is sixth in 1988 earnings with $24,870. With an exceptional fall tour, she could move as high as second. Wagner has lapped the rest of the field with nearly $80,000.

After what she calls a disappointing and slow start, Macpherson has been hitting the pocket with greater frequency.

“I didn’t bowl well at the beginning of this year,” she said. “I didn’t bowl badly but not great. When I got home in April (after the spring tour), I had this feeling that I wanted to turn around and get back on the tour. I had the feeling like I was ready to bust out. I felt like I would do well, but there were no tournaments.”

At the the WIBC Queens, Macpherson indeed busted out. Of 480 bowlers in qualifying, 64 advance and are seeded for the double-elimination tournament. Macpherson qualified and won 7 of 8 games, including the final, to win the tournament and $12,000.

“Luck plays a lot in that tournament. I was lucky to get a good draw each round. It wasn’t as demanding or as hard as a 42-game qualifying tournament.”

LPBT tournaments have a different format than the Queens. They usually draw around 400 bowlers. Three days of qualifying cut the field to 24. From there, five advance to a stepladder finals--the fifth qualifier vs. the fourth, the winner vs. the third and so on. It is often referred to as “the show,” because ESPN televises it each week.

Under television pressure, Macpherson has really excelled. She leads the LPBT with a 77% career success rate in television matches and won her first nine. Cindy Coburn in second, almost 12% behind.

Since the Queens title, Macpherson has made the show three times, finishing third in the Denver Classic, third in the Tempe Open and fifth in the South Bend Classic.

Macpherson, Wagner and Jeanne Maiden have been invited to play in Japan next week in a 3-on-3, one-day competition against a Japanese team. Last year, she went to Australia for a short tour.

As a 20-year-old, Macpherson still enjoys the traveling, although she admits, “Living out of a suitcase and eating out all the time does get old. The first couple of weeks is all right, but toward the end, I’m ready to get home.”

Macpherson lives in Rancho Bernardo with her parents, Chris and Liz, and her sister Blair, 22. Carol Gianotti, a 20-year-old Australian bowler Wendy met on her trip there, also is staying with the Macphersons. Gianotti was the top qualifier for a non-medal exhibition of bowling at the Seoul Olympics. After the Games, Macpherson and Gianotti plan to go on the women’s tour together.

Wendy began bowling when she was 13 because “my sister used to bowl in a junior program, and my mother used to help the kids at the Walnut Bowl.”

She began playing in leagues, usually one or two a week, and entered about four tournaments a year. “When I was about 14, I would go away on weekends and bowl in scratch tournaments,” she said.

When she was 15, Wendy bowled a 300 game. Twelve strikes in a row, and Macpherson was in the record book as the youngest woman to bowl a sanctioned 300 game, a distinction she still holds.

Her parents wanted her to go to college, but Macpherson wanted to give the tour a try.

“I felt I wanted to try the tour while I was young,” she said. “Besides, if that didn’t work out, I could always go back (to school).”

So far there has been no reason for that. The tour has worked out nicely and profitably. In 2 1/2 years, she had earned over $72,000.

She plans to marry Nick Papanos, 25, of San Diego early next year. The two met while bowling in a league together two years ago.

“He proposed to me after I didn’t qualify for the U.S. Open in April,” she said. “I wanted to tie myself to the railroad tracks out behind our hotel. I really wasn’t in the mood, but I quickly got out of that.”

The have set a tentative date of Feb. 11, which might have to be pushed back because of the LPBT. After that, they plan to buy a motor home.

“I think it will be nice,” Macpherson says. “There is usually about four to six weeks between tours. If we finish one tour on the East Coast, we’ll just stay there for a while. I’m looking forward to seeing other parts of the country.”

It is the carefree attitude that perhaps has benefitted Macpherson, something that was noticed on a recent ESPN telecast by Denny Schreiner and Leila Wagner.

Schreiner: “I really like her attitude. She seems she really enjoys herself out there. Of course, she’s not old enough to realize that things go wrong.”

Wagner: “When you come out and win your first tournament, and it’s the U.S. Open as an amateur, I think that has a tendency to set an attitude.”

Her father, Chris, says, “I don’t know if it was good or not for her to win the U.S. Open as her first tournament. Suddenly the pressure was on. What’s next? What are you going to do for an encore? Her next tournament, she didn’t even make the cut.”

Chris brings up Scott Verplank. As an amateur golfer, Verplank won at every level, including a PGA Tour victory in the 1985 Western Open. He was labeled “can’t-miss” on the pro tour, but in his first two years he finished 177th and 173th on the money list. Verplank finally won his first tour event as a pro, the Buick Open, last month.

“There was an excellent article on Scott Verplank,” Chris said. “I clipped the article for Wendy to read. He stated it so well that you need to relax and have fun to be successful. You’ve got to enjoy it. Wendy enjoys what she is doing.

“As a parent, I can only support her and remind her that this is better than a 9-to-5 job. She wouldn’t be happy in an office. She’s been fortunate to have a lot of ‘youngest evers.’ It’s a good omen for the future.”

Said Macpherson, “I’m just having a good time, doing what I do. I just hope it continues on the pace it’s going. I don’t really worry about things like being the best or winning the most money. I know those things will come with time. Right now I’m just taking one thing at a time.”