After being 14 shots down after the first day of play, the women's golf team finished at the top of the leaderboard this week at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, marking its first victory of the season.

The Wildcats had a solid second day and played well enough in bad weather on the final day to complete the comeback.

Arizona knew this week was a time to show the full-fledged Pacific 10 Conference field that they were the team to beat this year, and did so by finishing three shots clear of the Golden Bears of California.

"I put pressure on the team this week," head coach Greg Allen said after the final round. "I told them we needed to win this, being the first time all the Pac-10 teams were together."

Allen's squad was led by none other than sophomore standout Erica Blasberg, who notched her second victory of the year.

Blasberg finished in a first-place tie with Irene Cho of Southern California. The tournament officials decided against a playoff, and announced Cho and Blasberg co-champions.

The victory was Blasberg's fourth of her collegiate career and second of the season after she won outright at the Mason Rudolph Invitational last week in Tennessee.

"It's my goal to win every tournament," Blasberg said. "It wasn't my best tournament, but it's nice to still get the win."

The Corona, Calif. native and top-ranked player in the nation almost threw the tournament away for the Wildcats on the 17th hole at Sahalee Country Club, host of the 1998 PGA Championship and 2002 NEC Invitational.

Blasberg was cruising to victory before she got to the par-3 17th. She made double-bogey after she chunked her tee shot in the water.

"On 17, it was only about 150 yards," Blasberg recalled. "I hit a 100-yard chunk in the middle of the lake and was mad because I thought it cost the team (the win)."

The weather in Seattle couldn't have been worse yesterday, according to Allen and the players. The wind and rain caused a lot of the bark chips to fall off the famous cider trees, covering the greens and making every putt almost impossible.

"(Yesterday) was impossible," Blasberg said. "The first nine holes were really tough and the (bark chips) covered the green, so you'd clean your line, stand over your putt and you would have to clean your line again."

Allen said he was very impressed with sophomore Whitney Welch who, along with Blasberg and Mar Garcia, finished in the top 10 this week.

Welch had back trouble last season that kept her from competing in a lot of tournaments, but still manages to improve in every tournament in which she participates.

"I'm really impressed with the way (Welch) is playing," Allen said. "She continues to gain confidence every practice and every tournament, and is getting back in form."

Allen said the scariest thing about this week's win was that the team didn't even play to its full potential.

"I showed the team the scores from the (Franklin Street Partners Invitational)," Allen said. "Duke won that tournament by 49 shots, and I told the team that when we peak, we will be able to win tournaments by huge margins."

The Wildcats will next be in competition at the Pepsi-Stanford Invitational Oct. 17-19 in Palo Alto, Calif.

Former Wildcat Ochoa wins LPGA rookie award

Lorena Ochoa, a former Wildcat golfer, earned the LPGA 2003 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year award this week.

Ochoa, who was arguably the best college golfer of all time, finished her rookie campaign with seven top-10 finishes after leaving the UA early for the advantages of professional golf.

While at Arizona, the Guadalajara, Mexico native won an unprecedented 12 tournaments in only 20 starts that included a streak of seven tournament wins in a row ÷ a feat only eclipsed in the history of golf by Byron Nelson's 11 straight in 1945.

Ochoa will be competeing this week in the Samsung World Championship held at the TPC course in The Woodlands, Texas.