The Arizona men's golf team opened the Pac-10 Championships in as hot a manner as it has the entire spring ÷ hot enough to put itself in a first-place tie after the first day.

The opening competition featured the 10-team field completing 36 holes at The Gallery at Dove Mountain in Marana yesterday.

The Wildcats ended the first and second rounds yesterday with four teams remaining on the course. Arizona is tied with Arizona State for the lead, with UCLA in a distant third, trailing by 13 shots.

The Pacific 10 Conference format is different than any tournament the team has played this year, with the lowest five of the six individual scores counting. The normal tournament format consists of five players and counts the lowest four scores.

The Wildcats played consistent golf, and a few minor mistakes kept them from taking an outright lead on the rival Sun Devils.

Senior Chris Nallen finds himself tied for second place with freshman teammate Henry Liaw after the first two rounds, trailing Washington's Brock Mackenzie by four shots. Mackenzie posted consecutive rounds of 68-67, putting him nine-under par at the par-72, 7435-yard layout.

Nallen said he played consistently from tee to green, but struggled with getting the ball in the hole.

"I hit the ball fantastic," he said. "I was really happy with the way I was hitting it, but I didn't putt too well.

"(My score) should have been four or five shots better."

Nallen, the No. 4 player in the nation according to the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, sits at five-under par with Liaw after rounds of 70-69.

UA freshman Josh Esler is alone in fifth place after consecutive rounds of 70, allowing the Wildcats to boast three of the top five players in the tournament after the first day.

A Rowland Heights, Calif., native, Liaw left the course yesterday as the hottest player in the tournament as he birdied his final three holes to vault to a tie for second.

Nallen said that although the team is in a tie at the top, it needs to limit its high numbers as it heads into the third round this morning.

"I know (the team) is grinding; we just have to try to limit our mistakes," Nallen said. "I think everyone was feeling a little nervous, but that is good because it shows we care."

UCLA, Stanford, Southern California and Washington State finish their second-round play today at 7:00 a.m. Round three will begin immediately thereafter.

The Wildcats are searching for their first win at the Pac-10 Championships since 1991 and their third since the tournament began in 1960.