Resurgent golf takes on field in Toledo, Ohio

More often than not, youth and inexperience lead to the demise of young teams in the postseason.

However, this year the UCF Men's Golf team has been the not.

Making its first appearance in the NCAA Championship since 1992, UCF sat in a tie for 17th place — 16 over par — after Tuesday's first round at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio. Wednesday's results were not available at press time.

The Knights are fresh off back-to-back victories with wins at the NCAA Southeast Regional and the C-USA Championship, both of which the Knights hosted at RedTail Golf Club in Sorrento.

Yet earlier in the season the team was more of a sputtering engine in need of a jumpstart than it was a V-8 ready to surge down the track.

Throughout the 2008-09 campaign the Knights have fielded a roster full of underclassmen with senior David Johnson as the only mainstay. Before capturing a win in the last tournament of the fall, UCF previously recorded only one top-5 finish.

In the second half, that same young line-up finished no worse than fourth through seven events and collectively helped to deliver four team victories.

"You know, I don't know that the team is all that different now than it was then," freshman Blayne Barber said. "I think we're just now starting to see the results from all the hard work we put in during the first semester. Once you start playing with confidence and once you start seeing results, it's easier to carry that on."

Barber has single handedly dominated the spring, turning in six top-10s to go along with a win at the Rio Pinar Invitational in February. Junior Simon Ward, a transfer from Ulster University in Ireland, won as an individual at the C-USA championship and collected the C-USA Newcomer of the Year award.

Freshman Brad Schneider has turned in a handful of top-10s as well and is coming off a runner-up finish at the regional.

Getting the players experience has really proved to be the difference, head coach Nick Clinard said.

"We made sure the players were climbing the mountain to success and not changing what they were doing, which a lot of players do," Clinard said.

The Knights, No. 16 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings, finished at 34 under par at the regional, 11-shots clear of Georgia, who is currently No. 2 in the country and has been a top-5 team throughout the year.

In the fall, at the Isleworth-UCF Collegiate Invitational the Knights found themselves at the bottom of the leader board against the likes of Georgia, Oklahoma State,  Indiana, USC, Stanford, Clemson, all of whom have a legitimate shot of claiming victory this week.

Those same said teams, all of which were or are in the top-5, also have big wins under their belts.

Nonetheless, Clinard assures the Knights are a completely different team now than they were then and thinks UCF has just a good a chance as anyone to win a national title.

"Going into this championship, I think we have a great chance to win," said Johnson, who will be appearing in his final college event this week. "I don't think we would waste our time going up there if we didn't think we could win."

In its three appearances, UCF's best finish came in 1991 when it placed 12th. Topping that will be no easy task.

 The Inverness course will offer no breaks from start to finish. The club has been the site of several pro major championships and is renowned for being a true test of golf.

The course set-up will be similar to U.S. Open-style conditions. Deep rough and lightning fast greens will cause players to be precise on each shot.

"Personally I think our game is set up for that," Johnson said. "Everyone on our team is a good striker of the ball, and we have the ability to adapt to these types of conditions. If we play to our capability then the sky is the limit."

Which may be true, still UCF will need to bring that same sort of dominance it had at the regional if it hopes to be crowned the victor against college golf's toughest field of the year.

"For me, I'm not intimidated by anybody," Johnson said. "I don't care what school the other team is from or what their ranking is. It doesn't matter.

"It's golf. We're going to go out, tee it up and hit the ball. Our team is good enough. We're UCF, and we're a great program too."