GOLF:

The UC Irvine men’s golf team isn’t supposed to be at The Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind. this week.

They should be at home, playing golf at Dove Canyon or Big Canyon, or hitting balls on the range or books at the library.

They are not, instead the team is making the school’s third appearance at the NCAA Men’s Golf Championship. They finished the first day of the competition in 27th place, with the top 15 teams making it to the finals. They have two more rounds to make the cut.

The one that might be the most surprised about the team’s NCAA appearance is the coach, Paul Smolinski.

Smolinski has been at UCI for 11 years and in that time UCI has won Big West Conference titles in 2001, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008. The team has advanced to six of the last seven NCAA West Regionals and he guided UCI to its second NCAA Division I Championship appearance in 2001.

The team in 2001 had three All-Big West Conference standouts (Mike Lavery, Ryan Armstrong and Jeff Coburn). The team this year might not have the star power that 2001 had, but they certainly have the drive.

“They are peaking at the right time and that’s important,” Smolinkski said. “I’ve had teams that played well in the fall and didn’t play well in the spring or just didn’t get it done.

“These guys just seem to be gelling at the end.”

The team is led by two players, sophomore John Chin and junior Sean Shahi. Chin was this year’s Big West Player of the Year and Shahi was named to the first team. Chin was the medalist at the conference championship and Shahi finished fourth at the NCAA East Regional. His effort sparked the team to a third-place finish, tying the finish the 2001 team had.

“It’s really John and Sean have been the guys this year,” Smolinski said. “I think John is up on Sean by a few strokes on the year. They kind of go back and forth. They compete against each other and want to beat each other every day. I think that has really carried the group.”

The team started slow and had a few second-place finishes through the season, but finished poorly at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational in April.

“A few weeks before the conference I wasn’t even sure we would make it to the playoffs,” Smolinski said. “We had a good tournament at Stanford and played well at conference and had a great week at Regionals.”

The team turned it around however, posting a fifth-place finish at the U.S. Intercollegiate and then winning the conference championship.

“I don’t know if I can really put my finger on it,” Smolinski said of the change. “I do know that I never have to worry about the guys ever giving up. They just really work their way through the round and they are going to be there from start to finish. They rarely make mistakes or mental errors that cost them strokes. They are going to fight and if you have five guys doing that most of the time you are going to be all right.”

Now they just have to work on the next two days, climbing their way back into the top 15. At the Regionals they started the first day below the cut line and clawed their way back into contention after the second day.

“They definitely have some good competitive juices flowing within the team,” Smolinski said. “I think if a teammate shoots 66 or 65, then he is thinking if he can do it I can do it.”

JOHN REGER’S golf column appears Thursdays.