For the Penn State men's golf team, there was a good deal of optimism as their season-opening tournament in Ann Arbor approached.

The golfers seemed to be peaking at just the right time to have a fast start to the year. Instead, the Nittany Lions stumbled out of the gate and finished No. 11 out of 14 teams in the Wolverine Invitational.

For the 54-hole tournament, Penn State posted a team total of 877. That score, which was 25-over par for the weekend, left the Lions 26 strokes back of team champion Wisconsin. The Badgers were the only team to finish the tournament under par, with their nearest competitors 11 strokes back.

For a team that features a relatively young group of golfers, Penn State was once again led by a familiar face. Junior Robert Rohanna, who was consistently Penn State's best player last year, finished tied for 13th individually at one-over par.

Rohanna was as high as fourth place after the first day of competition, but like the rest of the team, he suffered from a disappointing performance on Sunday. He followed rounds of 68 and 70 with a final-round 76, causing him to drop in the standings.

"I expected to finish better than I did," Rohanna said, openly angry at his showing on Sunday.

Chad Bricker posted Penn State's next best score at 217. He finished tied for 23rd, three strokes behind Rohanna. Kevin Foley carded a 222, while Matt Leon ended up with a 227. Tyler Tarney rounded out the team's tournament with a 231.

The general feeling among the golfers was that they could have done better. Some of the team members were also quick to point out that it was only the first event of the year, though.

"We definitely can do better than we did today," Rohanna said. "But if we can get a couple good breaks, then we can be competitive."

Bricker, who won the Pennsylvania Amateur Championship during the summer, felt that the momentum he gained has carried over into this season.

"I've been playing pretty well so I'm just trying to do what I do best," Bricker said. "We didn't think we'd finish this bad, but there's a lot more pressure in college tournaments than individually."

Clearly not lacking in talent, the Lions need solid contributions from the whole team on a consistent basis. If they can do this, they could find themselves in much better position to challenge the leaders in upcoming tournaments.