The Arizona men’s golf team heads into the ASU Thunderbird Invitational – its final tournament of the season – with a lot still remaining to accomplish just two weeks away from the Pacific 10 Championships.

Arizona will make the trip up north to play at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, a course that both the UA players and coaches know quite well.

“”It’s sort of like a home tournament,”” said assistant coach John Knauer. “”The course conditions are very similar to Arizona National and we have played it a lot.””

Karsten is a par-71, 7,057-yard layout. Fifteen teams are scheduled to compete in the event.

As No. 62 Arizona enters the tournament, its main focus is gaining momentum as it heads into the Pac-10 Championships. The Wildcats are in need of a big performance to guarantee a spot in the postseason.

“”We could easily be the last team in or the first team out,”” said Knauer.

The Wildcats will send out their top-five, led by seniors Creighton Honeck and Trey Denton, freshmen Tarquin MacMannus and Roberto Galletti and junior Tyler Neal.

Building confidence and momentum is going to be very important for the Wildcats this weekend as a top-three finish and they could launch them into the postseason. But a poor performance could leave the team in a desperate fight to win the conference in the Pac-10 championships.

“”It’s huge,”” said Knauer. “”We look at this as the first round of the postseason.””