Men's Golf:

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May 26, 2008

UC Irvine competes in the NCAA Championship Wednesday through Saturday (May 28-31) on The Kampen Course at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind.

The 72-hole tournament will have 18 holes of competition each day. The field features 156 participants: 30 teams of five players, plus six individuals who advanced from regional competition.

A cut will be made following the third round to the top 15 teams. The six individuals will play all four rounds for a chance at medalist honors.

This year marks the Anteaters' third appearance in the NCAA Division I Championship. UCI competed in the 1992 and 2001 tournaments, missing the cut both years.

UCI, which gained NCAA Division I status July 1, 1977, won the 1975 NCAA Division II men's golf title.

Coach Paul Smolinski's squad finished third in the NCAA East Regional at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, Tenn., May 15-17. That tied the program's highest regional showing as the 2001 team placed third in the West Region.

UCI finished regional competition with a 54-hole total of 16-under 836. Georgia, the nation's No. 1-ranked team, posted a three-round score of 41-under 811. Augusta State finished second in the regional with a 20-under total of 832 in the 27-team field.

Junior Sean Shahi led the Anteaters at the East Regional with a fourth-place finish of 9-under 204 (70-65-69) on the par-71 course.

Sophomore John Chin placed 14th at 208 (67-69-72), junior Tim Cha was 29th at 211 (75-72-64), senior Kenny Kim finished 38th at 213 (71-69-73) and freshman Max Greil was 135th at 235 (75-78-82).

This was UCI's seventh trip to the regionals in the past eight years and the 10th overall for the program. UCI, which earned an automatic berth in the regionals by winning its second straight Big West Conference title, played for the first time in a regional other than the West.

UCI's previous regional appearances were in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.

The Anteaters advanced to regional play this season by virtue of winning the program's second straight Big West Conference title April 21-22 at Tijeras Creek Golf Club in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

UC IRVINE SEEDED 18TH: USC is the top-seeded team in the 2008 NCAA Championship, followed by No. 2 Georgia, No. 3 Wake Forest, No. 4 Oklahoma State, No. 5 Clemson and No. 6 Florida.

The remaining seeds are No. 7 UCLA, No. 8 UAB, No. 9 Alabama, No. 10 Stanford, No. 11 Auburn, No. 12 Charlotte, No. 13 Texas A&M, No. 14 East Tennessee State, No. 15 Indiana, No. 16 Oregon, No. 17 Augusta State, No. 18 UC Irvine, No. 19 Illinois, No. 20 Louisville, No. 21 Mississippi State, No. 22 Washington, No. 23 Saint Mary's (Calif.), No. 24 Arizona State, No. 25 Kent State, No. 26 Penn State, No. 27 San Diego State, No. 28 Texas, No. 29 Middle Tennessee State and No. 30 Virginia.

UCI will play the first two rounds with 16th-seeded Oregon and No. 17 Augusta State. The teams go off the first hole Wednesday (May 28) at 4:00 a.m. (PDT) and the 10th tee Thursday (May 29) at 9:12 a.m. (PDT).

THE COURSE: The Kampen Course at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex is a Pete Dye redesign completed in 1998. The course, which features bent-grass greens, fairways and tees, is par-72 layout that measures 7,431 yards.

UC IRVINE'S LINEUP FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP:

1. John Chin (So.) --- 71.21 ave.
2. Sean Shahi (Jr.) --- 71.64 ave.
3. Tim Cha (Jr.) --- 71.94 ave.
4. Kenny Kim (Sr.) --- 72.67 ave.
5. Max Greil (Fr.) --- 77.33 ave.

Head Coach: Paul Smolinski (10th Year)
Assistant Coach: Jim Shufelt

UC IRVINE'S PROGRAM: Head coach Paul Smolinski, in his 10th year at UC Irvine, has led the Anteater program to five Big West Conference titles in the past eight years (2001, 2002, 2003, 2007 and 2008).

The Anteaters won this year's Big West Conference Championship by six shots over UC Davis at Tijeras Creek Golf in Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.

UCI sophomore John Chin was medalist with a 54-hole total of 9-under 207 (73-66-68) and was named Big West Player of the Year.

Junior Sean Shahi finished second at 210 (68-70-72), junior Tim Cha was third at 211 (70-73-68) and senior Kenny Kim 18th at 221 (75-76-70).

Kim played in the 2008 Buick Invitational at Torrey Pines and missed the cut with rounds of 79-76.

UCI has posted nine top-five finishes in 13 tournaments in 2007-08.

Smolinski was named Big West Coach of the Year this season for the sixth time in his 10 years at UCI.

UCI has advanced to regional competition seven of the last eight seasons.

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