Christian Maggard sat in the banquet hall at Berkeley Country Club, fidgeting with a boxed lunch, not feeling much like eating.

Moments earlier, the Turlock High sophomore had walked off the 18th green after shooting a 7-over-par 79 in the CIF Northern California tournament. 

It’s a score that 98 percent of the world’s population only dreams of recording. For Maggard, however, it was not nearly the performance he expected from himself.

“It’s golf,” said Maggard, who won the Sac-Joaquin Section Masters championship a week earlier with a sensational 5-under 72 at The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton. “You can have a good day, then a great day, and then the next is terrible and nothing works out. That’s what’s so tough about golf.”

Maggard parred the first two holes of the day, then went bogey, double, bogey over the next three. He missed a makable putt for birdie on the par-4 sixth, but the easy par stopped the bleeding and started a string of five consecutive pars between No. 6 and No. 10. 

Maggard stood over a 30-foot, left-to-right breaker for eagle on the 458-yard, par-5 eighth, but left a little too much meat on the bone for his birdie attempt and could only manage a tap-in par.

Maggard birdied the 292-yard, par-4 11th to get within three strokes of even, but a lip-out bogey on the 142-yard, par-3 12th had Maggard muttering to himself as he made the walk to the 13th tee box.

“I was thinking, ‘OK, this could be it,’” said Maggard. “Then I had that bogey and a bad drive on the next hole (13), and I was back to where I started.”

Maggard bogeyed 13, parred the next three holes, then closed with back-to-back bogeys for a 39 on the back side. 

“It was just a grind the whole day,” said Maggard, who stands a tick under 6 feet and weighs 140 pounds. “I had that streak of pars, and had a couple good breaks. It helped the momentum, but I didn’t really feel like I was on the right track. Those weren’t easy pars.”

Berkeley Country Club measures just under 6,000 yards from the white tees, but its fairways are tighter than two coats of paint, and there are lots of elevation changes.

“And the pin placements were not easy, either,” said Turlock coach Jason Boswell. “He did a good job with what he was given.”

De La Salle (Concord) won the team title with a 3-under-par 357, aided by individual medalist Jaden Dumdumaya, who carded a 4-under 68.

Lodi, which won Sac-Joaquin Section Masters team title with a sizzling 2-over 362, carded a 416 on Monday to finish 10th out of 13 teams.

“We’ll see if we can get back next year,” said Maggard. “Maybe the whole team. Who knows? That would be awesome. I’m definitely looking forward to next year. And I’ve got some good things to think about after this round today. I’ll use the experience for the rest of this year and next year.”