Coming off a sixth place finish at the Big Sky Preview on Thursday in Phoenix, Ariz., members if the women’s golf team have their work cut out for them as they will be going back to the Foothills Club in Phoenix on Monday to defend their title at the Big Sky Championship.

The team has a lot of confidence heading into the championship, having carried a lot of the momentum from last year’s victories and translating them into some solid play throughout the season. In fact, the past four years of the golf program have seen a lot of changes to its structure and the mood of its game.

Sacramento State Athletic Director Terry Wanless said that former Director of Golf Adam Pohll struggled throughout his three-year-long tenure to rebuild the golf program. His efforts culminated in last year’s first-ever Big Sky Conference title for women’s golf and a first-time appearance at the NCAA West Regional and the men pulled a win at the Division I Independent Golf Championship. The men took that energy and finished second at the first American Sky Championship this semester.

Before the teams’ championship titles, Wanless said that Sacramento State’s golf program wasn’t perceived as a serious competitor by other schools within the league and that those wins changed all that. And the installation of former PGA Tour member David Sutherland as the new director of golf has helped to further the name and prestige of the golf program.

Wanless highlighted a major theme for the golf team: motivation. He said motivation helps build the momentum to generate interest for the program and from that, better recruitment as the field for better and more diverse players open up. As motivation increases, the drive to compete better than before is formed.

A back-to-back victory for the women’s team at the Big Sky Championship would provide the extra motivation to reach that new level of progress.

“As a team, we have to get there by winning the Big Sky to get to the West Regional,” Wanless said.

He said he doesn’t expect the team to be as good as it was before, but that he expects the team to be much better by building upon the progress made so far.

Justin Tejada can be reached at [email protected]