By Patrick Klein

Arizona Daily Wildcat

The Arizona women's golf team packed an extra bag of realism on its trip to the Pac-10 Championships.

While hopeful of winning its second conference championship in three years, the team knows it will require an unreal effort to wrestle the title from Arizona State.

The Pac-10s begin today and run through Wednesday in Los Angeles.

"ASU will be tough to beat. Realistically, we know what our average has been (about 308)," Coach Kim Haddow said. "Our goal is to shoot better than our average."

With the Sun Devils roaring through the regular season as the consensus No. 1 team in the country, the fight for No. 1 in the conference has all but been decided. The race is now for second in the Pac-10, which could translate to second in the country because of the staggering strength of the conference.

"It's a great honor to win. We have six of the top 15 teams in the country," Haddow said. "So even if you finish sixth, that means that you could still be sixth in the country, that's what makes it so exciting."

The Wildcats will send their usual five, which includes All-Americans Leta Lindley and Ulrika Johansson as well as Brenna Cepelak, Kelly Heffer and Jeanne Anne Krizman.

The players also understand the daunting task that awaits them in California.

"ASU has all the best golfers," Krizman said. "We're just going to do the best that we can. I haven't heard anyone talk about what position we want to be in. We will try hard to break our personal goals as a team. It would be nice to finish in the top three."

While the Pac-10s signal the start of the postseason, no team is eliminated until the regionals, held May 12-14 in Albuquerque.

But the Pac-10s are crucial to Arizona if the Wildcats want to build momentum for the qualifying tournament.

"This is tournament time." Haddow said. "A good showing here would add momentum."

With the golfers reschedule their tests around the tournament, Haddow said momentum must be gained now. Read Next Article