KEVIN B. KLAUS/Arizona Daily Wildcat Senior Nathan Lashley watches his drive Monday morning at the 2005 PING Arizona Intercollegiate golf tournament at the Arizona National Golf Club in Sabino Canyon.

Sophomore Henry Liaw used 17 birdies in the three-round PING-Arizona Intercollegiate tournament to finish fourth and lead the Arizona men's golf team to a fourth place team finish yesterday at Arizona National in Tucson.

Liaw shot a 6-under-par (207) while the Wildcats finished at even-par (852) behind tournament winner New Mexico (840).

The men's golf team, ranked No. 18 in the most recent Precept/GCAA Top-25 Coaches Poll, did not feel they played up to par, though the first team finished even.

"Like basketball, we have the mind set where no one comes to our house and beats us," said freshman Trey Denton, who tied for 10th shooting a three-round (212).

ASU's Alejandro Canizares won individual honors by one stroke over UNM's Spencer Levin.

"If they can take the lessons from this game, I think we can win," said assistant coach John Knauer. "We beat every team in our region."

Arizona finished behind Brigham Young (842) and Tulsa (851).

Although the Wildcats were playing on their home course, Denton said bad winds took away any home advantage Arizona might have had.

"The wind was blowing hard and it switched from what we are used to at practice from west to east to east to west," added freshman Tyler Neal, who posted a career-best five-over 218 on his way to a 32nd place finish.

"I could have played a lot better," he said. "They just weren't falling in the hole for me today."

Although a fourth place finish on your home course might seem like underachieving, Knauer acknowledges that there are more positive things in this loss then meets the eye.

He mentioned the performance of Liaw and fellow sophomore Josh Elser, who was carded the second best tournament score finishing tied for 14th at one over par.

As far as improvement goes, Knauer said the team needed more leadership with four of the top five golfers being sophomores.

Knauer said he expected Liaw to step up in a leadership role because he has been the team's most consistent performer.

"Maybe he'll step it up and lead us to the promised land," Knauer said.

The Wildcats' next tournament is Feb. 16-18 when the team travels to Wahiawa, Hawaii for the John Burns Intercollegiate.