Robb Wipes Out His Can’t-Win Reputation

Surfing has taken Kalani Robb to hundreds of hard-to-reach places during his 10-year professional career. The victory stand wasn’t supposed to be one of them.

But Robb finally got there, too, on Sunday at the Philips U.S. Open in Huntington Beach. He won the men’s final in dwindling two- to three-foot surf alongside the pier, earning his second professional victory and first on the World Qualifying Series tour.

“I’ll start adding them up now,” said Robb, 25, a resident of Oahu’s North Shore.

Robb’s only other victory came two years ago at the Rio Surf International in Brazil, an event on the more competitive World Championship Tour. He said he’s trying to go deeper into contests by taking a more serious approach to conditioning. He recently returned from altitude training in Big Bear, where he spent time with boxer Oscar De La Hoya.

“I think it’s starting to pay off,” Robb said.

He was matched against Tim Curran of Oxnard and Australians Trent Munro and Tom Whitaker in the final, which was scored by tabulating the competitors’ three best wave scores. Paddling out, Robb gave himself a quick pep talk.

“I was yelling at myself, ‘Are you going to finally win this thing?’ ” Robb said. “I don’t know what it is, but I always seem to miss by a little bit.”

Robb received the highest wave score of the final in the opening minute, starting well south of the pier near “Rob Machado’s Peak,” an area named after the two-time U.S. Open winner who prefers trolling for waves away from the pier.

Robb worked the waist-high wave nearly to the shore for a score of 7.00. He backed it up about seven minutes later with a 6.00, again surfing from right to left and milking the wave inside. “I knew that going down the line and making a lot of maneuvers is what the crowd and judges want to see,” said Robb, who rode a six-foot, one-inch Al Merrick design.

After scoring a 5.43 with about 17 minutes left, Robb enjoyed a comfortable nine-point lead. Munro moved into the second spot midway through the final and came within five points with three minutes remaining, but Robb sealed the victory by scoring a 6.33 in the closing seconds.

Robb finished with 19.33 points, earning $10,000 for the victory. Munro was second with 17.27 points, Whitaker was third with 16.14 and Curran fourth with 10.43. Curran, who is hoping to earn enough points to requalify for the WCT, was the best performer in the semifinals, easily winning the second four-man heat with 16.67 points, the highest two-wave heat score since Friday’s round of 96.

The heat was highlighted by a 180-degree aerial spin during which he gripped the side rails with his hands. He earned 8.67 points for the ride, the second-best wave score of the day. Curran said he was in the wrong places at the wrong times during the final.

“I was a bit out of rhythm,” he said. “There [were] waves in the final, but you just have to be at the peak. It seemed like I was dodging them.”

Munro, 23, was the most experienced of the finalists, owning three career victories, two in the WQS. Munro, ranked 18th in the WCT, made it into the final after a wave score of 7.67 with just under four minutes remaining leapfrogged him over fellow Aussie Taj Burrow.

C.J. Hobgood of Florida, the 2001 world champion, finished fourth in the same semifinal. Robb won the other semifinal with 12.77 points, narrowly edging Whitaker (12.66). Shea Lopez of Florida, ranked third in the WCT, finished last in the same heat.

Among the popular surfers eliminated in the quarterfinals and round of 32 were former world champions Tom Curren of Ventura and Sunny Garcia of Hawaii. Kekoa Bacalso of Mililani, Hawaii, won the junior division and $2,500. Bacalso, 17, borrowed Robb’s strategy and spend most of the time further south than the remaining finalists.

“I ended up getting some good waves,” Bacalso said.

Tim Reyes of Huntington Beach was second and Hawaii’s Joel Centeio and Jordy Brough finished third and fourth, respectively.