Damien Hobgood Takes Top Honors at Billabong Pro Tahiti
TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Wednesday, May 16th, 2007) - Damien Hobgood (USA) has been crowned the 2007 Billabong Pro Tahiti Champion after beating Foster’s ASP World Tour ratings leader Mick Fanning (AUS) in a last-minute victory in 5 to 7 foot (1.5 - 2 metre) surf at Teahupoo.
Hobgood bowed out of the 2005 Billabong Pro Tahiti Final halfway through after dislocating his shoulder - a circumstance which made his win today that much more meaningful.
"It’s insane - I was stoked to have another chance at it," Hobgood said. "I feel that things happen for a reason and I did my best out here in 2005 and came up short. I replayed that wave in my mind a hundred times going, ’I should have tried to stay in that barrel and not come out doggy-door,’ but I feel like I can put that out of my mind now."
Hobgood took off on a set wave needing an excellent scoring ride of 8.21 with one minute remaining. Fanning caught the wave behind but came up short in the exchange - Hobgood’s 8.60 won him the heat.
"Even though there was only a minute left, I was still holding on and thinking I could do it," Hobgood said. "I was able to just barely pull it off but the heat was so close - Mick put on a great performance."
Hobgood and Fanning met in a Foster’s ASP World Tour final in Brazil last year that produced an outcome opposite to today’s. Even though Fanning led for the majority of the heat, he was humble in his recognition of Hobgood’s accomplishments today.
"There’s nothing you can do," Fanning said. "You pray and hope that he falls, but in the same sense, you want to see someone get a good barrel. It’s all good. I got him last year in Brazil so he got me back."
Fanning’s 2nd place result at the Billabong Pro Tahiti has seen him pull away from the pack on the official ASP World Tour ratings. Having already featured in two out of three finals on this year’s Foster’s ASP World Tour, Fanning is well and truly in pursuit of his maiden world title. He finished 3rd in the world in 2005 and 2006.
"I always feel comfortable at home (on the Gold Coast) and in Bells," Fanning said. "I never really had a good result here at Teahupoo so I’m stoked to get one and put it towards the World Title. This year, I’ve had a few results at the start of the year - in the past I’ve always seemed to do well the second half of the year. "
Fanning peaked in his semifinal against rookie Kai Otton (AUS), earning the only perfect 10.00 wave score of the event. Otton posted the second highest wave score of the event (a 9.90) in his Quarterfinal against Cory Lopez (USA), but lost to Fanning after making a critical priority mistake by giving the ratings leader the wave of the day.
"Mick scored that 10.00 under my priority, but that’s what happens, guys get scores underneath priority," Otton said. "I just thought I was a little deep and it didn’t look that good but he was in the perfect spot, got really deep and got the 10.00."
Otton has moved to 10th on the Foster’s ASP Ratings with this result; right behind French rookie Jeremy Flores who now sits 9th in the world.
"It’s unbelievable," Otton said. "I’m having a dream start for a rookie. If I can keep on a roll maybe I can avoid surfing the ’QS."
Joel Parkison (AUS) has moved to fourth on the world ratings after his 3rd place finish today. Parkinson lost to Hobgood in Semifinal 1.
"The set came through and it had this big lump and it came to a peak and went straight to Damien and he got a 9.0 on it," Parkinson said. "I was 10 feet too deep and sometimes that’s all it takes. I knew I needed to be patient but it never really happened for me after that. I’m happy with the result though, a 3rd is great."
The next stop on the Foster’s ASP World Tour will be event No. 4, the Rip Curl Pro Chile, from June 20 to July 1, 2007.
Visit the media center on www.aspworldtour.com for transcribed athlete interviews, audio downloads, hi-resolution photographs and heat by heat updates for all the Billabong Pro Tahiti action thus far.
BILLABONG PRO TAHITI FINAL RESULTS FINAL: Damien Hobgood (USA) 16.60 def. Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.20
BILLABONG PRO TAHITI SEMIFINAL RESULTS SF 1: Damien Hobgood (USA) 18.17 def. Joel Parkinson (AUS) 12.67 SF2: Mick Fanning (AUS) 18.87 def. Kai Otton (USA) 15.33
BILLABONG PRO TAHITI QUARTERFINAL RESULTS QF 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 17.53 def. Andy Irons (HAW) 12.00 QF 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) 17.17 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 14.23 QF 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) 16.73 def. Luke Stedman (AUS) 14.33 QF 4: Kai Otton (AUS ) def. Cory Lopez (USA)
Foster’s ASP World Tour Ratings (after Stop No. 3 of 10, the Billabong Pro Tahiti) 1. Mick Fanning 3108 points 2. Taj Burrow 2676 points 3. Damien Hogood 2342 points 4. Joel Parkinson 2340 points 5. Bede Durbidge 2232 points 6. Kelly Slater 2208 points 7. Andy Irons 1989 points 8. Michael Campbell 1932 points 9. Jeremy Flores 1742 points 10. Kai Otton 1701 points
Slater and Burrow Make Round 4 Exits at Billabong Pro Teahupoo
TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Sunday, May 13th, 2007) - TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Sunday, May 13, 2007) -French rookie Jeremy Flores eliminated reigning and eight-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA) in Round 4 of the Billabong Pro Tahiti today.
That upset, along with 2001 Billabong Pro Tahiti Champion Cory Lopez’s (USA) elimination of current equal Foster’s ASP World Tour No. 1 Taj Burrow (AUS), headlined a full day of action which unfolded in clean, three-foot (one metre) waves at Teahupoo.
Flores, who earned his Foster’s ASP World Tour berth after finishing first on the 2006 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), took the lead halfway through their 35-minute heat and held it until the horn blew.
"I’m happy, it’s definitely a dream come true to beat the best surfer in the world," Flores said. "I feel really confident in these waves, where I’m from the waves are exactly the same so I know these waves perfect. If there was one place I could beat Kelly it was today, in these waves."
Slater failed to put a heat together, catching five waves to Flores’ three and earning a heat total of just 10.87 - uncharacteristic given his ability to post perfect 10.00 rides on a regular basis.
"I’ve always surfed pretty well against Slater," Flores said. "He’s always surfed better and beaten me, but I’ve always surfed well and felt good against him. I guess today I might have been a little smarter on my wave selection. I was patient and waited for the good ones and that might have been the difference."
Lopez and Burrow’s Round 4 clash was the highest scoring heat of the Billabong Pro Tahiti thus far, with Lopez barely edging out the current world No. 1 17.66 to 17.50.
"Taj started off with a really good wave and I knew I had to do something special," Lopez said. "I didn’t have priority, but I saw this wave swinging wide of him and I just paddled as hard as I could for position. I got a really nice little barrel, kind of over the foam ball for a little bit and just came out to make the tube and I got my score. I was so stoked because I knew I had made the heat."
Also eliminated in a close heat today was current world No. 3 Bede Durbidge (AUS). Durbidge lost to rookie Kai Otton in somewhat inconsistent surf the last heat of the day.
"It’s really funny that me and Bede had a heat like that because on the Goldy, we had the same round and this big storm came through and we wanted to call it off - we couldn’t even see each other," Otton said. "It’s kind of ironic that we had another heat that went well over halfway through without either one of us taking off. We both got a couple - same scores on one wave and it was just up to the other wave that I got a little barrel on."
Mick Fanning (AUS) who came into the event sharing Burrow’s World No. 1 rating is also through to the Quarterfinals. With Burrow, Durbidge and Slater out, Fanning stands to increase his ratings lead.
The surfer still competing in the Billabong Pro Tahiti nearest to Fanning on the ratings is current world No. 5 Joel Parkinson (AUS). Parkinson will meet former event and world champion Andy Irons (HAW) in the next round.
"I live to fight another day and now I meet Parko in the Quarterfinals," Irons said. "We are staying together so it should be pretty interesting. If the waves stay small it could be pretty heavy because we’re actually using the same board and I don’t who is going to get it but I may have to hide it. It’s actually JS’s board, our shaper’s, who made it for himself from a copy of one of my boards that Parko got here. I don’t know what the rules are on that, we may have to check the rule book on that one. Hopefully it gets bigger and then we won’t have to deal with that and we can deal with real 12-foot Teahupoo instead."
Just seven heats of Billabong Pro Tahiti competition remain. A call on event proceedings will be made tomorrow morning at 7:00 local time. All the Billabong Pro Tahiti action will be webcast LIVE on www.aspworldtour.com and www.billabongpro.com.
Visit the media center on www.aspworldtour.com for transcribed athlete interviews, audio downloads, hi-resolution photographs and heat by heat updates.
Billabong Pro Quarterfinal Match-Ups: Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Andy Irons (HAW) Heat 2: Damien Hobgood (USA) vs. Jeremy Flores (FRA) Heat 3: Mick Fanning (AUS) vs. Luke Stedman (AUS) Heat 4: Cory Lopez (USA) vs. Kai Otton (AUS)
Billabong Pro Tahiti Round 4 Results: Heat 1: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 15.00 def. Michael Campbell (AUS) 11.24 Heat 2: Andy Irons (HAW) 14.44 def. Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 13.93 Heat 3: Damien Hobgood (USA) 15.17 def. Adrian Buchan (AUS) 13.00 Heat 4: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 13.57 def. Kelly Slater (USA) 10.87 Heat 5: Mick Fanning (AUS) 14.87 def. Chris Ward (USA) 3.83 Heat 6: Luke Stedman (AUS) 11.40 def. Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 6.17 Heat 7: Cory Lopez (USA) 17.66 def. Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.50 Heat 8: Kai Otton (AUS) 13.77 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 13.27
Billabong Pro Tahiti Round 3 Results - Heats 8-16: Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 15.17 def. Gabe Kling (USA) 9.50 Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) 15.43 def. Troy Brooks (AUS) 13.77 Heat 10: Chris Ward (USA) 15.40 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 15.30 Heat 11: Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 16.33 def. Tom Whitaker (AUS) 4.83 Heat 12: Luke Stedman (AUS) 16.66 def. Bobby Martinez (USA) 13.27 Heat 13: Taj Burrow (AUS) 17.20 def. Victor Ribas (BRA) 9.57 Heat 14: Cory Lopez (USA) 16.53 def. Taylor Knox (USA) 1.84 Heat 15: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.93 def. Rodrigo Dornelles (AUS) 14.94 Heat 16: Kai Otton (AUS) 15.96 def. Daniel Wills (AUS) 15.17
Flores Sends Burrow to Round Two of Billabong Pro Tahiti
TEAHUPOO, Tahiti (Friday, May 4th, 2007) - All but one of the biggest names in pro surfing made it through their Round 1 Billabong Pro Tahiti heats today. Perennial favorites Kelly Slater (USA), Andy Irons (HAW), Mick Fanning (AUS) and Joel Parkinson (AUS) advanced to Round 3. Taj Burrow (AUS) who sits current equal No. 1 on the Foster’s ASP World Tour ratings aside Fanning was not so lucky.
Burrow, who drew Teahupoo specialist and Billabong Pro Tahiti wildcard Bruno Santos (PYF) and French rookie Jeremy Flores, finished second in the three man heat and will now have to negotiate Round 2 to stay in contention for a Billabong Pro crown.
Flores, a Foster’s ASP World Tour rookie, won the heat - his first ever at the dredging left reef break. He also tied Dean Morrison (AUS) for the third highest heat total of the event thus far.
"It felt good, definitely, to surf in my first heat here and to win it," Flores said. "I couldn’t wish for better. When I saw the heat I had I was like, ’Whoa, it’s going to be tough one,’ but I think this is a wave where anyone can beat anyone."
Flores is Europe’s only representative on the Foster’s ASP World Tour. He finished first on the World Qualifying Series (WQS) to earn his elite tour spot and currently sits 14th on the ratings after finishing 9th on the Gold Coast and 17th at Bells Beach.
"I’m still learning; I’m only 18," Flores said. "I did okay in the first comp but I got a little unlucky since the start of the year. I had problems with missing waves on the Gold Coast and I got really sick in Bells so hopefully I can keep on a roll and everything stays normal this event."
The surfer who stands to benefit most from Burrow’s possible Round 2 elimination is Fanning who has owned the ratings lead from the start of the year but has been forced to share it since the Bells Beach event wrapped up in mid-April.
Fanning failed to find a barrel in his 30-minute heat, a rare occurrence given the nature of the wave, and exited the water unsure of whether or not he’d earned the score he needed to overcome Aussie wildcard Anthony Walsh. He text messaged his mother to find out.
"I’m 6,000 miles away and I’m waiting for a text from my Mum to either say, ’Well done,’ or ’You idiot!’ luckily it was, ’Well done!’" Fanning said. "I knew it was going to be close, I only needed a 2.0 or a 3.0 or something, and I got a good little wave but I only got to do turns on it - I didn’t get a barrel the entire heat. Anthony had a 7.00 and I didn’t have anything so it was basically a five-minute heat."
The highest scoring wave and heat score of the day (a 9.50 and an 18.17 respectively) went to current eight-time ASP world champ Slater. Slater won the contest in 2000, 2003 and 2005 but bowed out of the event in the semifinal last year after suffering a repeat rib injury.
He left his opponents Phil Macdonald (AUS) and wildcard Mano Drollet (PYF) needing a combination of scores to catch him today.
"It’s kind of a real wind-swelly sort of swell - it’s got a little east in it so it’s coming deep from the reef and there were some good ones," Slater said. "My plan was to start up there and get a couple but I ended up swing wide and getting my first one, a 9.5, that sort of set the pace. Manoa passed up another one, a got an 8 something and that was sort of it - there wasn’t much left out there for those guys."
Slater will enjoy a break between now and when Round 3 hits the water - depending on how the wildcards fare in Round 2, it is likely he will meet one of the Tahitian specialists once again.
"Obviously the wildcards surf their way through the qualifying event to get here but getting out into these heats is a little bit of a different story - guys don’t make the same mistakes on this tour as they do in the qualifying events," Slater said. "The pressure definitely steps up a notch for those guys and they are generally the best surfers at breaks like here and Pipeline. The wildcards that come through are the guys you want to beat and you beat them early on and you feel like you can win the event. To get one over on Manoa early on feels good, but he’ll probably have a mid-range high seed in Round 2, and if he can beat him I’ll have Mano again."
The day’s other stand-out performer was Pancho Sullivan of Hawaii. The second-year tourer, who amassed the days second highest heat total after Slater, had a disappointing South Pacific leg last year, but looks to be bettering those results in 2007.
"Obviously last year, I got a 33rd here and then in Fiji so it wasn’t a good run through the hollow lefts that I was hoping for," Sullivan said. "But Tahiti is so similar to Hawaii that I love coming here. The intensity of the waves and the power of the ocean are really similar and it’s so laid back - the people are just amazing. Obviously we all wish it was the big, heavy Chopes that we’re all used to seeing, but with the limited waiting period, we have to get this day under our belt in order to wait and hope for bigger swells to come."
Brazilians Adriano de Souza and Bernardo Miranda won their respective heats, as did South African’s Travis Logie and rookie Ricky Basnett. Californian’s also fared well with Bobby Martinez (USA), Chris Ward (USA) and Taylor Knox (USA) each advancing.
There is a chance that Teahupoo may be swell deprived for the next few days, but a call will be made tomorrow morning at 7am to see if Round 2 of the Billabong Pro Tahiti will run.
ROUND 1 BILLABONG PRO TEAHUPOO RESULTS: Heat 1: Bobby Martinez (USA) 14.00, Trent Munro (AUS) 6.23, Cory Lopez (USA) 4.23 Heat 2: Bruce Irons (HAW) 11.84, Victor Ribas (BRA) 8.22, Josh Kerr (AUS) 7.63 Heat 3: Chris Ward (USA) 12.84, Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.66, Troy Brooks (AUS) 7.34 Heat 4: Adriano de Souza (BRA) 12.33, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 5.96, Neco Padaratz (BRA) 2.60 Heat 5: Gabe Kling (USA) 8.87, Leonardo Neves (BRA) 7.70, Bede Durbidge (AUS) 6.83 Heat 6: Joel Parkinson (AUS) 13.16, Luke Munro (AUS) 8.36, Greg Emslie (ZAF) 7.17 Heat 7: Andy Irons (HAW) 12.50, Hira Teriinatoofa (PYF) 9.67, Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 6.90 Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.17, Manoa Drollet (PYF) 12.50, Phillip Macdonald (AUS) 9.66 Heat 9: Mick Fanning (AUS) 10.44, Anthony Walsh (AUS) 7.67, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 2.47 Heat 10: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 15.67, Taj Burrow (AUS) 8.50, Bruno Santos (BRA) 5.93 Heat 11: Pancho Sullivan (HAW) 15.93, Shaun Cansdell (AUS) 14.90, Daniel Wills (AUS) 9.50 Heat 12: Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 8.27, Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 6.80, Michael Campbell (AUS) 6.26 Heat 13: Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 12.57, C.J. Hobgood (USA) 10.17, Ben Dunn (AUS) 9.14 Heat 14: Travis Logie (ZAF) 13.70, Kai Otton (AUS) 9.80, Dayyan Neve (AUS) 1.30 Heat 15: Taylor Knox (USA) 8.92, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 3.90, Michael Lowe (AUS) 1.44 Heat 16: Dean Morrison (AUS) 15.67, Mark Occhilupo (AUS) 14.33, Luke Stedman (AUS) 9.10
