The ASU women's golf team finished the opening round of play at the Pac-10 Championship Monday as the only squad to shoot under par.
The third-ranked Sun Devils shot a one-under 287 at the Oro Valley Country Club in Tucson, while their chief competition, No. 2 UCLA, finished the day in second place with a three-over 291.
Keeping the Bruins off their minds, ASU coach Melissa Luellen said, is something the Sun Devils will have to do if they are to capture their first conference crown since 1996. The Bruins edged out the Sun Devils to win the ASU/PING Invitational earlier this month and also narrowly topped ASU for the Pac-10 title last season.
"UCLA has been good for several years now, and I think they've elevated our team," Luellen said. "We know the kind of scores we have to shoot to beat them. We just don't want to eke it out against them. We want to win by 10 or 15 shots. If we stay focused on us and not what UCLA does, we can do that."
All four of ASU's top golfers ended their opening rounds Monday in the top 16. Freshman Azahara Munoz is tied for the lead individually with Washington State's Ana Kostina at two-under 70.
"Azahara has not played to her potential at all this season and she's still ranked in the top 10 golfers in the country," Luellen said. "She really fought hard out there to be two-under par today."
Senior Alissa Kuczka finished with 71, while freshman Jennifer Osborn and junior Tiffany Tavee each shot one-over 73. Junior Charmaine Erasmus struggled on the back nine to finish with a seven-over 79.
Luellen said the team must stay focused to maintain its lead through the tournament's second day.
"It's so much easier when you're behind because you know what you have to do," she said. "Now we're ahead, and we have to get a firm hold on what we want to accomplish. It sounds easy, but it's hard to do."
Men's Golf Update
The ASU men's golf team has a lot of ground to make up if it's going to win a conference title.
After two rounds at the Pac-10 Championships in Palm Desert, Calif., the Sun Devils are in a distant fifth place at a 17-over 727, 30 strokes behind leader UCLA.
ASU junior Niklas Lemke is in contention for the individual title, however. Lemke remained steady throughout the day, finishing in second place after each of the first two rounds. He carded a five-under 137, which places him two strokes behind UCLA's Daniel Im for the lead.
ASU senior Alejandro Canizares made a charge in the second round. Canizares shot four-over in the first round, which put him in 39th place. He carded a two-under par in the second round to move into a 16th-place tie at two-over 144, nine strokes off Im's pace.
ASU freshman Benjamin Alvarado Holley and senior Lenny Park finished the second round tied for 31st at five-over 147.
Freshman Erik Coover and sophomore Phil Telliard both had a rough start to the tournament. Telliard completed the second round at 10-over, while Coover finished at 20-over.
The top five scores of the six-man teams count toward team totals.
The third round takes place today and the final round on Wednesday.
Reach the reporters at drex1_phx@hotmail.com and derrik.miller@asu.edu.
