After spending an entire season playing on the road, the Penn State men's golf team will remain at home this weekend to host the Rutherford Intercollegiate at the Blue and White Courses in State College. Some of the golfers' family and friends will be on hand, as well, to support them in their last event of the year.

The tournament will begin with 36 holes tomorrow. On Sunday, the golfers will play 18 holes. Due to renovations on the courses, the rounds will be split between nine holes from each of the Blue and White Courses.

It has been a trying year for the team, as it attempted to compete against tough opponents while developing a lot of young talent. The results have been disheartening thus far, but there is still a lot of optimism surrounding the upcoming event.

"We should definitely be doing better when we play on our home course," sophomore Robert Rohanna said.

Rohanna, who has been the team's best and most consistent contributor all year, is not the only golfer who thinks the Rutherford will bring more success than past tournaments.

"It's definitely a big advantage because I play pretty well on this course," freshman Chad Bricker said. "When you play your home course, it gives you a lot more confidence because you've been there and you've hit the shots and know the bounces."

A little bit of local knowledge never hurt anyone on the course, and the Nittany Lions need to capitalize on every possible advantage if they want to stay in the hunt throughout the two-day, 54-hole event.

A performance similar to those of this season's earlier tournaments will not bode well for the team, but there is no doubt that doing well in the Rutherford Intercollegiate has been one of Penn State's aims for a while.

"The biggest goal right now would have to be to try to do as well as we can in our home event," senior Greg Pieczynski said after the ASU Thunderbird Invitational earlier in the year. "We just have to try to get our games back into shape because there are a lot of good teams coming here for that."

The Lions are now one tournament (and one last-place showing) removed from the Thunderbird, and whether or not their games are at peak level remains to be seen. If they can put together a solid finish, though, it will go a long way in aiding the confidence of the golfers as the Big Ten Championships and end of the season approach.

"We can finish the year on a good note and have some momentum going into next year," Bricker said.