The No. 5 women's golf team will look for its second consecutive SEC title this weekend at Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.
Championship play begins Friday and will end Sunday.
Coach Kim Evans said she feels comfortable with where the team is currently.
"They have a lot of camaraderie as a team," Evans said. "I think they have a lot of passion and play well. They've had some success, all of those are always good for confidence. We have had some really good events and we have had some fair events. We have seen good things at every event from somebody or several of the players. I like where we are right now"
The team has had two weeks off since their last tournament at Georgia which they've devoted to practice.
Senior Haley Wilson said after competing at UGA the team was able to look at areas of weakness.
"We started out really strong in the spring and we haven't exactly finished out some tournaments like we've wanted to," Wilson said. "But I feel pretty confident about us going into this and building off each other and building off the things we've learned each week at tournaments."
Wilson said they have to treat this weekend the same as any other tournament despite their desire to win the championship again.
"Yes, it has the big SEC label on it and it has postseason on it, but its just another tournament and it's another time for us to take one shot at a time and one hole at a time," Wilson said. "It's 54 holes and not just 18 holes; it's a marathon, not a sprint."
The women will play a practice round first to get a feel for the hilly course, Evans said.
Senior Patricia Sanz said that even though the team has had a few rough tournaments this spring, they feel prepared for the SEC Championships, and she thinks they are one of the best teams Auburn has seen in a while.
"We've been conditioning more," Sanz said. "We have workouts twice a week, and now we've been working out an extra day ... We've just been doing more cardio and lunges, and then we run around the golf course to get more prepared."
Sanz doesn't want the pressure of defending the SEC title to interfere with the task at hand.
"There is always pressure once you win an SEC tournament, but that should be out of our heads," Sanz said. "We should just think about playing our best and having the best attitude on the field. That will get us where we want."
While every SEC school will compete in Fayetteville, Sanz said they are keeping their eye out for Auburn's biggest rival: Alabama.
"They clearly have been having a great spring," Sanz said. "They won two tournaments out of their three, so they are in really good shape right now. Alabama is pretty much our main target, but I think we should just focus on ourselves and if we play our game we will kick their butts."
Sanz, Wilson, sophomore Marta Sanz, junior Carlie Yadloczky and freshman Victoria Trapani will represent the Tigers in the championship.
Do you like this story? The Plainsman doesn't accept money from tuition or student fees, and we don't charge a subscription fee. But you can donate to support The Plainsman.
