Pac-10 Championships: The Arizona State men’s and women’s golf teams are both riding “highs’’ heading into next week’s conference tournaments, which take place Monday through Wednesday.

For the ASU women, who recently regained their No. 1 ranking, they will be trying to win their third tournament in a row when they visit the Broadmoor Golf Club in Seattle. The Sun Devils also will be trying to shake that runner-up feeling, having finished in second place at the past two Pac-10 tournaments.

ASU is led by All-Americans Jennifer Osborn and Azahara Munoz with freshman Anna Nordqvist, the No. 2 ranked collegiate player according to Golfstat, providing the extra punch. The rest of the lineup has yet to be announced.

Challenging the Sun Devils in the 54-hole event will be No. 6 USC and No. 8 Stanford. In all, five teams are ranked among the women’s top 15.

For the ASU men, Niklas Lemke is the No. 1-ranked player in the country according to Golfstat. Lemke has seven top-five finishes and a 70.03 stroke average. That ranks Lemke No. 3 on ASU’s all-time list with three tournaments to play. Heading that list are former All-Americans Paul Casey (69.87 stroke average) and Phil Mickelson (69.95).

Joining Lemke on the six-man team that will take the 72-hole challenge at Oregon’s Eugene Country Club will be Benjamin Alvarado Holley, Knut Borsheim, Fredrik Andersson, Steele DeWald and Tristan Bierenbroodspot. In their last two tournaments, the Sun Devils won the National Invitational Tournament at Tucson, and were the runner-up in the Thunderbird Invitational at Tempe.

Last year, ASU finished second in the conference behind UCLA, and Lemke was the runner-up in the medalist competition. ASU, which is ranked 18 th, will have a tough road test in getting by No. 2 Stanford, No. 6 USC and No. 7 UCLA.

ON TOUR

Big turnaround: Former ASU player Matthew Jones of Scottsdale, who doubles as Jeff Quinney’s roommate, posted his best finish on the Nationwide Tour last week when he finished second in the South Georgia Classic. The $66,268 check vaulted Jones from No. 171 on the money list to No. 11. “I definitely have more confidence now, because I had none before this week started,’’ said the good-natured Aussie, who had missed three cuts and finished in a tie for 49 th in his previous four outings.

Big easy: Phil Mickelson wrote a check for $250,000 for the Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund while simultaneously announcing he will not play in this week’s Zurich Classic in New Orleans. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work with the revamped PGA Tour schedule,’’ said Mickelson, who now has donated $750,000 to the Katrina fund.

Big mistake: Hall of Famer Nancy Lopez took one on the chin last week when she ended two years of retirement to play in the LPGA Ginn Open. Lopez’s comeback didn’t last long, as she went 83-30 to finish in last place by two shots and miss the cut. Lopez has said she’ll play in four or five LPGA events this year.

NOTEWORTHY

Survey says: The Scottsdale Convention and Visitors Bureau commissioned Golf Digest to do a survey on golfers who vacation in Scottsdale. Among the findings: Scottsdale customers are more affluent, with an average income of $252,000 compared to non-Scottsdale customers with an average of $183,000; Scottsdale customers spend an average of $2,416 on their vacation compared to $1,818 by non-Scottsdale customers in other destinations; and Scottsdale customers stay an average of five nights, bring three other golfers with them, and book an average of four months in advance.

Not surprisingly, the biggest negative revealed by the study was that participants ranked Scottsdale low in affordable golf. Fortunately, quality and quantity of golf courses in Scottsdale ranked ahead of affordability, according to the study.

And, finally: Think you’ve played some long par 5s, well, how about a par 6 that rambles over 1,000 yards? A guy in Marquette, Mich., is building just such a hole at Chocolay Downs Golf Club, which already boasts the world’s largest green at 29,000 square feet. When completed, Chocolay Downs’ monster will surpass the world’s current longest hole – the 964-yard, par 7 ninth hole at Satsuki Golf Club in Sano, Japan.