True No. 5 Czinski has kept the Bulldogs from dangling by a thread.
On Tuesday, she didn't make a single birdie and shot a score that wasn't good enough to count, and it's exactly what her coach wanted.
There is no glory in being the fifth-best golfer on a college team. If one of Chelsea Czinski's rounds counts toward the Fresno State total, that usually means something went wrong.
It means one of the top four had a bad day, likely missed putts, probably leaked oil, had the wheels come off, tanked, gagged, choked, yacked in her bag. You've been there. You know how it goes.
Czinski is a freshman. Her job is to shoot something in the high 70s and hope it was a waste of four hours.
On Tuesday, it was. This was the second of three rounds in the Women's WAC Championships at Sunnyside Country Club. Czinski missed two short birdie putts on the back nine and still shot a 79.
It didn't matter. She could have shot 77 and still walked away from the 18th hole unneeded. Her teammates, Laura Luethke (74), Pia Escandon (75), Taylor Siebert (76) and Hali Coppin (76) all survived, all hung in there when it looked like any hope of a WAC team title was sliding away.
Through nine holes Tuesday, Fresno State coach Angie Cates was trying to smile, trying not to think about her team collapsing, trying not to wonder if her wedding dress would be too tight. (She's getting married this summer and Tuesday was her second fitting.) Hawaii had shot a great first round and was leading Fresno State by eight strokes.
And then on the back nine, the Bulldogs, well, they didn't charge so much as they survived. Luethke, who said she was "bad" on the front, made three birdies on the back. Escandon shot even par. Coppin, who made a quadruple on her first hole, shot even on the back, too.
It gave them hope for today. They moved a shot closer, seven back, a deficit they could easily overcome and qualify for the NCAAs.
Czinski is a big reason her team didn't fade. All fall, Fresno State didn't really have a No. 5 to rely on, someone who might shoot near the 70s.
"Everyone has bad days," Cates said. "It happens. When you don't have a No. 5, you're out there thinking, 'Oh, no, this score is going to count.' And it just gets worse."
When this school year started, Cates thought Czinski was her No. 5. She hit it short but straight, a swing you could fit in a broom closet, They needed her because Jennifer Shipley, an All-WAC golfer, had quit the team so strangely last year.
Czinski is the daughter of a giant gentle Polish man who played quarterback at Bakersfield College and a little Japanese woman.
"People think I'm Hawaiian," Czinski laughs. "They have no idea."
Czinski was a mystery as a player, too, a player who went unnoticed in the West because her parents had sent her to the IMG Academy in Florida, a school designed to prepare college athletes. Cates had never seen her hit a ball in person when she signed her.
Secretly, the other players figured she must be a rich girl, but her parents had taken out a second mortgage to send her to Florida.
"They still won't tell me how much it cost," she said.
It was $40,000 a year, her parents admit. She went for three semesters. They live in El Dorado Hills, just 10 miles from Folsom Prison, and they're driving a suburban with 125,000 miles on it.
"We've pretty much given up hope of retiring" says George, her father, "But we wanted to invest in our kids."
Even she isn't sure what happened to her during the fall. Czinski was awful in her first couple qualifying chances and just gave up. She started leaving practice as soon as it was finished. She showed up late at times.
"You could tell she was just kind of enjoying college," Luethke said.
Before Christmas, Cates sat her down and let her know it wasn't good enough. She told her she wasn't at an academy to work on her game. The Bulldogs needed her.
"She came back and it was a whole different commitment," Cates said.
If someone had imploded Tuesday, Czinski would have been there with a 79. But they didn't. They fought back, swung hard, putted firm.
It's easier to perform with a safety net.
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