Panther golf enters uncharted territory

The night before he tees off for a golf tournament, Porterville’s No. 1 golfer, Nate Jessup, sits in his room for two hours and meticulously wipes down each club in his bag, from his driver all the way down to his putter.

“It helps me to just think about the course, what clubs I’ll need to use for different shots,” he said.

Needless to say, Jessup and the rest of the Porterville Panthers will have already envisioned their every move in what is the biggest tournament of their lives — the CIF-SCGA Southern California Championships — by today’s 8 a.m. tee time.

The band of four juniors and two seniors who qualified as one of two teams (along with Clovis West) to represent the Central Section will face a field of 144 of SoCal’s top golfers at the SCGA Golf Course in Murrieta. 

Each participating section sent two teams and 12 individuals.

Only two individuals in Porterville coach Lynn Enos’ 12-year tenure have been invited to the prestigious tournament, which is a precursor to the CIF State Championships at Poppy Hills in Pebble Beach. 

Gunnar Avinelis, who went on to play four years at Fresno State, was invited in 2002 but failed to qualify for the final state tournament.

The other invite is Jessup, who did it in 2007 as one of just two freshmen invited to Murrieta.

“For him to do that was really remarkable,” Enos said. “I knew he was going to be good for three more years and he’s only gotten better. He’s got the know-how to play this game and he works hard at it.”

What’s more remarkable is that this year, all six Panthers (each one subscribes to his own peculiar pre-game ritual) qualified as a team for the first time in the school’s history, paving new ground with each advancement through the tournaments.

First, the Panthers easily destroyed the EYL field at the league championships, beating second-place Tulare Western by 36 strokes. They dominated even more at the area level, defeating second-place Lemoore by 53 strokes.

Porterville finally ran into some competition at the Team Valley Championships in Fresno, narrowly losing out to Clovis West by three. The Panthers, however, say they didn’t bring their ‘A’ game that day and are fully confident they can beat their Central Section partners in Murrieta.

And most recently, Porterville placed three individuals in the top 15 at the Valley Individuals in Bakersfield, an inconsequential tournament after they had already qualified.

All six Panthers almost regularly score in the 70s, with Jessup and senior Kris Kennel splitting low-scoring honors every other week.

“Kris usually comes on strong at the end of the season, which is perfect timing for us,” Enos said. “Then it starts going back and forth between him and Nate, like sort of a friendly competition.”

Mikey McGinn has also come on strong as of late, shooting a 74 at Valley Individuals and 71 at EYL. Juniors DJ Stone and Quinn Procter and senior Barrett Schortman each have the capability to go off for team-best performances.

“Skill-wise, we can compete with the top powerhouses,” Jessup said. “But sometimes we have small mental lapses that nip us in the butt.”

Since the school couldn’t sanction practices over the weekend and River Island was closed Monday, Enos left the Panthers on their own to hone down their games.

“Hopefully they practiced,” Enos said. “They need to work on their wedges, keeping their drives in the fairway and holding it to a maximum of two-putts.

“I just wish they would be more consistent,” Enos added. “At least, if one of them gets a bogey, he usually gets a birdie later on to make up for it.”

The Panthers’ skills will be tested to the max in what Jessup says is the toughest course any of them have ever faced. 

The course, which hosts annual PGA qualifying tournaments, boasts nearly 7,000 yards of sizeable elevation drops, slick greens, right-to-left drives off the tee and bodies of water in all but eight holes.

On several holes, it’s nearly impossible to hit a mid-iron shot onto the green, which slopes from back to front so much that the ball rolls back onto the fringe of the fairway.

Jessup, who shot a 79 on the course as a freshman, has been prepping his teammates for the difficulty to come.

“It’s pretty brutal,” he said. “I thought I was in pretty good shape going into it, but it’s a grueling course. From the green to the tee on the next hole, sometimes it’s a half-mile walk. I was exhausted at the end.”

Jessup said he remembers the course well and plans to hit the greens early to get a feel for the speed of the putts.

Notwithstanding, both Jessup and Enos like their chances of moving onto Pebble Beach. The top three teams and top six individuals move on to state.

“I really think we’re going to play well,” Jessup said. “We made this our goal at the beginning of the season and now that we’re here, we’ve got nothing to lose. Our depth has never been this strong.”