UCI’s Chin leads honors

UC Irvine senior John Chin has been named 2010 Big West Conference Golfer of the Year and Anteaters coach Paul Smolinski is the conference Coach of the Year.

Its the third straight Golfer of the Year honor for Chin, who repeated as medalist at the conference championship this season to help the Anteaters capture their sixth Big West crown since 2001.

Junior Max Greil earned first-team all-conference recognition, while freshman Jerry He was a second-team pick.

Chin has a 68.83 scoring average and has four tournament victories among his 10 top-10 finishes this season. He is ranked No. 1 in the Golfstat Cup and is No. 6 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He will represent the United States in the Palmer Cup in June in Northern Ireland.

Smolinski, in his 12th season at UCI, captured his seventh Coach of the Year honor. He has guided UCI to its ninth NCAA Regional appearance in the last 10 seasons.

Greil has a 72.91 scoring average and four top-10 finishes this season. He was sixth at the conference tournament.

He has a 73.52 scoring average and was 14th at the conference tournament.

Junior Shaun O’Meara, fourth at the Big West tournament, received honorable mention.

— From staff reports