The Arizona women's golf team tees it up this morning in a tournament that has been their home away from home for the past three years.

This will be the third year in a row the Wildcats travel to Nashville, Tenn., to play in the Mason Rudolph Championship on a course all the UA players have seen in the past.

Head coach Greg Allen said despite a disappointing 15th-place finish in last week's Fall Preview, the team is coming into this week with a lot of confidence.

"We had the best practice round we've had in a long time," Allen said after yesterday's preparation. "I have never seen the girls hit the ball as good as they did yesterday. Every time I looked up there was five balls in the fairway."

Arizona will be lead by junior Lani Elston who was the low Wildcat last week, when closing with a final round 73 to propel herself to a tie for 35th place.

Allen said yesterday was the first time the Wildcats have been totally together as a team in a practice round this year.

"This was the first time we had five girls plus (assistant) coach Shelly (Haywood) on the course for a practice round," Allen said.

Arizona has had success in the Mason Rudolph Championship in the past, finishing in second place in 2002.

Erica Blasberg, who left the UA to turn pro in the offseason, won medallist honors at the event after shooting 3-under par for the week.

Allen said he has made a few confidence changes to get the girls going for the week, including having Mar Garcia and Miriam Kraschinski wear their Pacific 10 Conference Championship rings from their victory in 2002.

"The confidence level is really good right now," Allen said. "I told the girls to go out and be confident."

The tournament will be held on the Vanderbilt Legends Club, a course Allen said can play tough at times.

"It can be tough, but it is a really good golf course," he said. "It's also the course Lorena (Ochoa) won her first LPGA event so we've got some karma going our way."

Arizona will be paired this morning with Vanderbilt and a Duke team that is arguably the best in the nation.

Men's golf heads to New Mexico

The Arizona men's golf team will be competing this weekend in the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate in Albuquerque, N.M., in their third tournament of the year.

The team played in the Topy Cup in Japan but finished in a disappointing ninth place out of 11 teams, and again struggled at the Preview in Baltimore, finishing in 12th place out of 15 teams.

Sophomore Henry Liaw, a candidate for the Ben Hogan Award given to the top men's golfer, finished in a tie for 34th place at the Preview while Tucson native Nathan Tyler was the Wildcats' top finisher, carding a final round 74 to end up in 27th place.

The Wildcats will be looking for someone to step up in the two-day event that will begin this morning.