By Curtis Acosta
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Well, this is supposed to be the end of the year wrap-up, but because both the Arizona men's and women's golf teams are still involved with their seasons, wrapping up is difficult. Nevertheless, I offer this simple and contrived device as my creative answer to the conclusion of the Wildcat golf teams.
The Dictionary of UA golf:
A stands for the Arizona State women's golf team that dominated another year of golf. The Sun Devils won Arizona's home tournament of the year by more than 40 strokes ... OUCH!!!
B is a tie. First, it stands for byline, a newspaper device that took me many moons to get a handle on (thanks EW and TJ). It also stands for Tim Beans, who led the men's team in most of its tournaments this year, and will be a tough competitor for the UA next year.
C is simple. Brenna Cepelak, a sophomore who came to the forefront of the women's golf team. She had a great spring and challenged for a few titles.
D stands for dunk. Beans once told me during an interview that he can dunk a basketball. Tim, golfers don't dunk.
E is for eagles. The UA didn't score enough of them.
F stands for Forty-Niners. Never ask a 'Niners fan to say anything different. Right, Brill? (In reference to Tom Brill, Arizona's assistant coach and fellow Niner fan.)
G stands for Heather Graff. The 18-year-old freshman is already one of the top golfers in the entire country, and a true threat to bring a national championship to Tucson.
H stands for holes-in-one. There were none of them.
I is for inconsistency, the word that found its way into nearly every story. Both teams were in need of a little more consistency in order to break into the top 10 rankings.
J stands for Ulrika Johansson. Johansson, the only senior on the women's team, had a great final year that gave the Wildcats needed depth.
K is for Kim Haddow, the former Arizona women's coach that left the job midseason to take the head job at Florida. The abandonment put the program into disarray until ...
L came along, L being Rick LaRose, who came to the rescue of the program by taking the helm of both the men's and women's teams. His leadership has been inspirational to his players, as both programs have had a fine year.
M stands for Phil Mickleson, who won the Northern Telecom Open at Tucson National and is a great supporter of college golf.
N is for North Carolina, a place that has been kind to Arizona golfers. The men's team had one of its best finishes of the year there (fifth), and Graff had her first top five finish in Carolina, last fall.
O is for overambitious. If the Wildcats have any plans to compete against ASU in the near future, that is exactly what they are.
P stands for Ted Purdy, who showed signs of brilliance during his play in mid-year.
Q stands for quality. The Arizona golf program went through a tough year, but the quality of the coaching staff kept the standards and play amazingly high.
R is for rebuilding. Both teams went through a rebuilding year, but appear to be stocked for the future.
S stands for sensational, which is a great way to describe how Graff played in the Pac-10 Championships last week. She finished one stroke away from winning the title and beating U.S. Amateur Champion Wendy Ward.
Tis for thirsty. The Wildcats are this for a victory.
U is for underrated. Both Wildcat teams have been blasted by the media this spring.
V is for vigilance, the No. 1 characteristic needed in covering golf.
W stands for the weather, which was very nice this week.
X stands for ... get real! I was having trouble with M.
Y stands for youth. Both teams will return their best players next year Ä a sign of better times ahead.
Z is for zero, which is the number of tournaments that both teams won. It's not all that bad, though, I mean, there were some top five finishes.