Hobgood holds off challengers at Trestles
Experience has its advantages, and C.J. Hobgood rode that too Saturday at the Jeep-Body Glove Surfbout at Lower Trestles, just south of San Clemente.
Hobgood, the 2001 world champion from Satellite Beach, Fla., applied a few tricks of the trade he has gleaned in nine years on the World Championship Tour, helping him outlast a group of hungry finalists.
Up against first-year WCT members Gabe Kling of St. Augustine, Fla., and Dayyan Neve of Australia, as well as Huntington Beach native Shaun Ward, Hobgood took the lead with about 11 minutes remaining in the 30-minute final and kept his opponents at bay by beating them to several potentially high-scoring waves.
“C.J. said he wasn’t going to let me catch a wave, and that’s what he did,” Ward said. “He kind of just has the momentum when he’s powering, so it was hard to hold him off a wave. He was pretty much in position for most of the lefts.”
Hobgood had a best two-wave score of 15.36 to win the four-star World Qualifying Series event. Neve was second with 14.06, Kling third with 13.74 and Ward finished fourth (12.43) after earning the highest single-wave score of the final (8.50) and holding the lead for about 10 minutes.
It was the second WQS victory this year for Hobgood, who also won the O’Neill Sebastian Inlet Pro in Florida in January, edging out a final group that also included Kling.
“I kept looking over my back because all those guys needed was a wave, and anyone could have won,” Hobgood said. “It was funny, Ward was out there going, ‘Dude, you guys are all on the CT, just let me win,’ and then Dayyan’s like, ‘Well, I don’t have a sponsor, let me win.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, it’s on, dude.’ ”
Hobgood, 27, is tied for 30th on the 46-man WCT. Neve is also tied for 30th, and Kling has yet to win a heat in his rookie season, leaving him tied for last.
To re-qualify for next year, they must finish in the top 28 on the WCT, or the top 16 on the WQS.