Max Emberson, in his second appearance at the CIF State Boys HS Championship, came from behind at San Gabriel CC to capture the individual state title as a sophomore and end his school year as the No. 1 high school golfer in the state of California.
"I’m really happy to have this opportunity to play,” said Emberson. “I just tried to go out here and play my best today, do some good for my team, and I think I did that.”
Emberson, who won the CIF Southern Section individual championship then logged a T14 finish at the CIF-SCGA regional tournament, got it done in the state championship with a five-under 66 at San Gabriel CC on Wednesday.
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“I knew if I played my game and did whatever I could to play good, no one was going to beat me,” said Emberson. “I’ve been playing pretty consistently the whole season and broken through a few times with some low numbers.”
It wasn’t until the 15th hole when Emberson established a solo lead. He carded a clean 34 on the front (-2), to put himself within a couple strokes of Jay Leng (Torrey Pines HS), who shot four-under on the front including an eagle on the par-5 fourth hole. Steven Lai (Stevenson), coming off consecutive birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 had also wedged himself between Emberson and Leng at three-under as the trio made the turn.
“My wedge game and my course management was pretty good today,” said Emberson. “I didn’t put myself in a lot of bad spots. Just tried to make some putts when I could and I think it worked pretty well.”
That’s when Emberson applied the pressure. Rolling in consecutive birdies on Nos. 12 and 13 before repeating on Nos. 15 and 16, he rolled up to the 17th tee box as the solo leader at six-under. Had it not been for the one bogey he would card on the par-4 17th, Emberson was looking at a mistake-free round. Nonetheless, he tapped in for par on the 18th to end a round that will add his name to the likes of Xander Schauffele and Rickie Fowler as California state champions.
“It’s obviously pretty surreal just having my name next to these greats in the game,” said Emberson. “It felt pretty good. I’ve known a lot of these guys through junior tournaments so to see them again in a state championship is pretty cool.”
With the win, Emberson earns exemption into two major summer events; the 112th California Amateur Championship at Sherwood CC and the 125th SCGA Amateur Championship at The Saticoy Club.
Added Emberson, “Our team had some struggles here and there [this season], but we also had some school records, which was nice. We have two seniors that played today so it’s pretty sad to see them go after this year.”
Torrey Pines HS successfully completed the regional/state sweep as the Falcons found themselves back in the winner’s circle for the first time since 2018.
"We started off really slow this year,” said Torrey Pines Head Coach Chris Drake. “It’s really a testament to these kids desire to win.”
Torrey Pines, paced by top-five finishes from Jay Leng (-3) and Evan Liu (-2), combined to shoot six-over. Leng and Liu were two of just ten players that carded a round under par.
"We really weren’t playing our best golf until the San Diego sectional tournament and the boys just really turned it on,” said Drake. “We really haven’t taken our foot off the petal since then.”
Winning Team Members (Torrey Pines HS)
Jay Leng
Evan Liu
Ethan Elleras
Roman Damnkoehler
Colin Li
Dane Oleksy
