No one close to Robles

Crystal Lake South's Nick Robles tees off during the IHSA Class 3A Barrington Regional on Tuesday at Makray Memorial. Robles won with a 3-under-par 68 to lead South to second place. (Lance Booth - lbooth@shawmedia.com)

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BARRINGTON – If the IHSA Class 3A Barrington Regional was any indication, Crystal Lake South senior Nick Robles has saved his best golf for the ideal time.

While others struggled with Makray Memorial, even with 75-degree weather and little wind, Robles was in control all the way, firing a 3-under-par 68 for the third regional title of his career.

Robles won by four strokes over Barrington’s Michael Stathakis and led the Gators to second place for the second consecutive year. Barrington (316) won the team championship, while South (324) and Fremd (327) were the other qualifying teams for Monday’s Fremd Sectional at Hilldale.

“I did pretty much everything well,” said Robles, who was second in the Class 3A state tournament last season. “My driver was pretty good. My irons were right where I wanted them, and I made some putts. I feel like this course sets up well for me, and I was managing my game well today.”

Jacobs junior Sean Kozak, who nearly had back-to-back eagles on Nos. 12 and 13, shot 78 to finish third. Other area individual sectional qualifiers were Cary-Grove’s Justin Kinney (80), Jarrett Kinney (82) and Kyle Lehnertz (83), Crystal Lake Central’s Max Rand (80) and J.B. Garoufalis (82), Jacobs’ Chris Boyle (81) and Dundee-Crown’s Joe Aschacher (83).

C-G and Jacobs finished two strokes behind Fremd in the team standings. South, which finished sixth in last week’s Fox Valley Conference Tournament, benefited from an eagle each from juniors Austin Wiggerman (81) and Geoff Pietsch (85). Wiggerman holed out an 80-yard wedge on the par-5 15th, and Pietsch knocked in a 5-iron on the par-4 12th from 150 yards out.

“It was great. I didn’t play that well, but Nick helped us so much,” said Wiggerman, who previously had two eagles in his career.

Pietsch actually missed seeing his shot go into the hole.

“I looked down, I didn’t think it had a chance, and then a kid in my group cheered,” Pietsch said. “I looked up and didn’t see the ball.”

Robles was 2 under at the turn and then went 1 under on the back nine. He was 4 under with two holes to play, but bogeyed No. 17.

“Mr. Robles put us on his back and carried us there,” Gators coach Curt Wadlington said. “Without him we have one other guy getting through, with him, we have six. That’s why golf is such a fantastic team game. Our guys owe Mr. Robles a soda … and a hug.”

Kozak was 7 over after 11 holes, which was a good position, although he didn’t know that at the time.

“I guess I rallied a little bit,” Kozak said. “I thought I needed to make something happen there, so I pulled out my driver [on 12].”

He knocked his tee shot 15 feet from the green, then drained his chip. On the par-3 13th, his tee shot ended up 18 inches from the cup and he tapped in for birdie, giving him back-to-back 2s on his card.

“It definitely put my hopes up more after that,” Kozak said. “I knew if I parred out from there, I’d be set.”