ANGELS CAMP — Turlock High put the finishing touches on a fourth consecutive undefeated Central California Athletic League season, winning the conference tournament at Greenhorn Creek Resort.
The Bulldogs, who have now won 18 league titles over the past 20 seasons, finished with a team score of 393, just five strokes better than Gregori’s 398.
Pitman finished third with a 449, followed by Enochs’ 476 and Modesto’s 596. Downey High did not field a full team.
Turlock’s Christian Maggard, the reigning Sac-Joaquin Section Masters champion, and Gregori’s Dillan Bahadur were the medalists, each carding a 71.
Maggard’s round got off to an inauspicious start, with a triple bogey on No. 1, his second hole of the day (he started his round on the 18th).
Maggard recovered nicely, however, playing the remaining 16 holes in 4-under.
Teammate Clark Van Gaalen, a senior who has committed to play at Oklahoma next year, shot a 2-over 74, while Harvey Clark was the third THS player to break 80, with a 77.
Aiden Salcedo (85) and Daniel Joseph (86) rounded out the top five for the Bulldogs.
Davis Cornell led the way for the Pride with a round of 85, followed by Ethan Estacio, who carded an 87. Steven Schmidt (91), Noah Hobbs (91) and Roman Piro (95) rounded out the top five for Pitman.
After missing a 6-footer for birdie on his opening hole of the day, Maggard topped his drive on No. 1, sending it about 15 yards into the water.
“It’s really hard to start like that,” said Maggard, a junior. “All you can say to yourself is it happened, it’s in the past, and you can’t do anything about it. You have to move on and do what you can to make the most of the rest of your round. I had 16 holes left. Sixteen holes is plenty.”
Maggard got back on track on No. 2,
“I teed up with the same club (3-iron),” said Maggard. “I didn’t like the tee shot, but I hit a pitching wedge to within 10 feet. I was able to make birdie and that got the wheels rolling a little bit.”
On the par-5 fourth, Maggard cut the corner on a dogleg right, then hit a pitching wedge to the side of the green, and then chipped to within 4 feet.
“That was a pretty stress-free birdie,” he said.
On No. 6, a 170-yard par 3 that played more like 180 because of the wind, Maggard hit a 6-iron about 5 feet off the green, but chipped for his second birdie.
He gave back a stroke with a bogey on No. 8, but made up for it on the very next hole.
On the par-5 ninth, Maggard smoked a shot with his driver and then hit a 6-iron to within 20 feet of the cup.
“It was a fairly straight putt,” said Maggard. “It had a little bit of a move to the right just at the end. That was a nice little bonus.”
Up next for the CCAL golfers is the section’s Division 2 tournament, which will be held May 6 at Turlock Golf and Country Club — a plus for the Turlock and Pitman golfers — and then the Masters tournament May 13 at The Reserve in Stockton.
The Northern California and state tournaments, should any local golfers qualify, would be held May 20 and May 29, respectively.
“I’m really excited for the team,” said Maggard. “We’ve got a lot of potential. If we get a good week of practice and stick to our game, we’ve got a really strong chance to get to Masters and even win divisionals. I’m really excited. I don’t want to be thinking about it too much. I just want team to play their game, but I think we’ve really got a strong chance.”
