Tiger Woods has conquered this course three times -- straight.

This weekend, the Penn State men's golf team will be vying for its first win of the spring season at the Firestone Country Club, the Akron, Ohio, course that's home to this year's First Energy Intercollegiate Tournament as well as the PGA Tour's World Golf Championship NEC Invitational.

"It's really exciting for any collegiate player to think about going to Firestone to play," Penn State men's golf coach Greg Nye said. "They're pretty well jacked up to do that."

Thanks to the first full week of weather suitable for golf at Penn State, the Nittany Lions will approach this weekend more prepared to face tournament conditions and to have a good time doing it.

"[Because of the weather], we've addressed practice in a little more fun fashion this week," Nye said. "We've been able to do most things you normally do on a golf course."

The Lions will be bringing the same starting lineup to Akron this weekend that faced the toughest competition on the toughest course last weekend at Ohio State's Scarlet Golf Course.

The team would like to build on the stellar second round at OSU where every golfer improved his score from the previous round.

"We'd just like to take another step forward," Nye said.

"As you go into tournaments with very limited practice, I think it's unrealistic to expect the moon. As we've played a few tournaments, we see improvements from one week to the next and I hope to see another step forward [this weekend]."

Freshman Jason Pannone has been a bright spot this season for the Lions.

The Greenwich, R.I., native finished tied for 14th last weekend and had an outstanding 2-under-par 70 in the second round.

"[Jay] actually played pretty well in the first round with the exception of one hole," Nye said.

"He was outstanding in the second round and fairly solid in the third ... Apparently, his comfort with the college scene is starting to show. Jay works as hard or harder than any of our players in terms of time commitment and with practice."

Penn State's top two golfers, Ted Neville and Mark Leon, are looking to improve on last week's performance.

Neville finished with a 227 and Leon shot a three-round total of 233.

"[Ted and Mark] have been playing No. 1 and No. 2 for us and there's a reason they're there," Nye said.

"They did not play as well as they would have liked last week. They were disappointed, but they were working on it. That's one of the areas where I really expect to see a change."