The No. 12 Arizona women’s golf team is set to open its fall season today in Nashville as part of a high-quality field at the Mason Rudolph Championship.

The tournament features three Pacific 10 Conference teams, five teams in the top 10 and eight others in match play ranked in the top 25 in the country, including No. 1 Duke and No. 3 Georgia.

“”It’s a really good field,”” UA head coach Greg Allen said. “”It’s a chance for us to get off to a good start. We can go up against the best teams in the country just to see how we stand. We’ve been looking forward to this since day one.””

The Wildcats have had a facelift from last year’s squad, losing three seniors who used up their eligibility. Replacing them are redshirt juniors Alison Walshe and Mary Jacobs, who transferred to Arizona after Hurricane Katrina forced their former school, Tulane, to cut all funding for women’s golf.

“”I basically just want to shoot under par for the tournament,”” Walshe said. “”If I finish under par, I can finish in the top five or even have a chance to win, which would be ideal.””

Two other golfers who may make an impact in this weekend’s match play – and the rest of the season for that matter – are sophomores Adriana Zwanck and Amanda Wilson.

Zwanck, a native of Spain, joined the team during the spring season. She was the only Arizona golfer to claim an individual title last year, winning the Ping/ASU Invitational with a 6-under 210 total, which was Arizona’s lowest tournament total of the season.

Wilson had a strong showing last fall, but tailed off in the spring.

Allen said that she has impressed him so far this season.

“”Amanda struggled a bit in the spring, but now she’s come back with just a brand new attitude,”” he said. “”She’s hitting the ball better and is just extremely confident.””

Said Wilson: “”I’m expecting to shoot a 75 or better. I want to keep a steady pace that will be consistent for the whole match play.””

Allen also said that this weekend will be a good barometer of how strong the squad will be this season.

“”I’m just really excited,”” he said. “”I think we have a good chance to come out here and compete. If we play well, we can compete with anybody in the country.

“”Everybody’s confident, and our chemistry is unbelievable. It is as good as I’ve seen our team chemistry in several years. Any time you’ve got that going for you, it’s going to help on the golf course.””