Gregori, Ebster take charge at MMC golf

Bright sunshine beamed down at about high noon Monday, except where Chris Ebster stood, at Dryden Park.

Dark shade covered the place Ebster, the talented Gregori High School junior, directed his off-target tee shot. Tall trees hovered overhead while low-slung branches guarded his escape route. Ebster, 86 yards out, reached into his bag for Plan B.

And Plan B, an uphill ground-hugging punch that rolled between two bunkers and finished a foot from the flag for a tap-in birdie, worked just fine.

“I thought about a 4-iron but figured a 5-iron would do it,” Ebster said. “I just chipped it, a waist-to-waist shot.”

That’s golf-speak for a waist-high backswing and follow-through, and Ebster more than just talks a good game. His 3-under-par 69 looked like found money in the clubhouse where the scores were posted for the Modesto Metro Conference Championships.

Ebster’s four-birdie, one-bogey performance anchored Gregori’s MMC dominance. The Jaguars, unbeaten in dual meets, romped to their second straight league title and lapped runner-up Downey by 38 strokes. They’ll be a team to watch at the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I South next week at Stockton’s Elkhorn Country Club.

“Our goal is to make to NorCals,” Ebster said. “We want to show up some teams this year.”

Ebster, a member of Central Catholic’s state-tournament team as a freshman, knows how to navigate golf’s late-season pressure. He ignited his low round at the MMC with birdies at the 18th (his first) and the second, both par 5s. A closing bogey at the par-3 17th hardly mattered.

By then, he already held the upper hand in a high-level matchup with Johansen senior Daniel Pena. Frustration on the greens – via six putts that caught the edge and spun out – sobered the Vikings star, who double-bogeyed his final hole en route to a 73.

Pena, bound for the University of the Pacific, dominated the Section Masters two years ago by shooting a 66 at The Reserve at Spanos Park. Last year, he negotiated Atwater’s Rancho Del Rey in 68 for the medalist honor at the D-1 South. This spring, Pena averaged 1.25 strokes under par in the MMC, compared to Ebster’s minus-.16, to annex his third straight league MVP certificate.

“Winning the tournament (Monday) would have been nice, but overall it was a good season,” Pena said. “I just didn’t bring my A game today.”

Gregori, Downey and Enochs will advance to the divisional along with individual qualifiers Pena, Scotty Lucas of Beyer (79), Michael Days of Modesto (90), Matthew Lawler of Modesto (90) and Grace Davis golfers Nico Salazar (90) and Aaron Diyal (90).

Making the All-MMC first team were Ebster and teammates Michael Doll, Greg Jalli (the team’s only senior) and K.J. Dieker; Austin Haverdink of Enochs and Eric Norris of Downey.

This story was originally published May 2, 2016 at 4:45 PM with the headline "Gregori, Ebster take charge at MMC golf."