The Penn State women's golf team is off to a rough start in the Puerto Rico Lady Classic in Dorado, Puerto Rico. After two days of competition the Nittany Lions find themselves in last place with one more day to go.

"We've had a few bumps along the way, but anytime you tee up in February, that's a possibility," Penn State coach Denise St. Pierre said yesterday from Puerto Rico. "I'm not seeking any excuses but there's an exceptional field of teams here and we're finding ourselves at the bottom of the pile."

Penn State shot 335 on Monday and improved to 320 yesterday, but still trails 13 teams in the 14-team field. The roster is made up of top teams from around the country, the strongest field the Lions will face all spring. Auburn is leading the event, shooting 299 and 297 in the last two days. Florida is in second place shooting 308 and 295, and Texas Christian is third with scores of 304 and 301. Florida's Tiffany Chudy is leading the tournament with scores of 74 and 72.

Junior captain Amber Weinerth is performing well, despite a shaky team effort. As the team's No. 1 player, St. Pierre expected a strong showing from her coming into the event and Weinerth has followed through. She shot 79 in the first round, 77 in the second and currently is ranked 30th out of 75 players.

After shooting a score of 90 on the first day, senior captain Lauren Lundy made a significant improvement yesterday by shooting 77.

"I'm proud of her for getting her act together and turning it around," St. Pierre said.

The other team members, junior Katrin Wolfe and sophomores Evelyn Paik and Maggie Lester, are having a tough time playing consistently. St. Pierre said that they need to get more comfortable with the green and step up their effort in today's final round.

St. Pierre said that Penn State lacks the depth that the other top teams have but sees this competition as a learning experience. There have been a number of challenges so far, including a difficult course and weather conditions.

"The winds were gusty on Monday," St. Pierre said. "It's a challenge to keep the ball out of the wind."

She said the course was tricky and made it easy for the players to get into trouble and rack up penalty shots.

The Lions hope to lower some of their scores today so that they can move up in the rankings. Regardless, St. Pierre said that if the team can keep its score under 315, she would be satisfied, considering it is the first tournament of the spring. She said the team has a lot to learn, and competing with such strong players is a good place to start.

"Playing in this kind of field is good for the players and allows them to be around the best teams in the country," St. Pierre said. "It's been a good learning experience."