If a surfer could choose two people to share the lineup with on a pulsing day at Pipeline, the world’s best surfer and a former Pipe Master they’ve known most of their life would probably be among the ideal candidates.
If a surfer could choose two people to share the lineup with on a pulsing day at Pipeline, the world’s best surfer and a former Pipe Master they’ve known most of their life would probably be among the ideal candidates. While that may be the case for a free surf, it may not have been the way Sebastian Zietz hoped his first round of the Billabong Pipe Masters would shake out.
Facing a tall order for re-qualification, Zietz had to take on world’s No. 1 Mick Fanning and 2001 event champ Bruce Irons in their opening heat, Thursday on Oahu. The beginning of the heat showed some ideal conditions and both Irons and Fanning traded jabs, but the water got a bit quiet and Zietz never had a chance to get involved. He finished third and will now have to take on Brazil’s Jadson Andre in round two in order to remain in the event. Zietz is going to need a deep run to keep afloat his chances at jumping into the top 22 and make it back for next season, which would be his fourth on tour.
It looked like Irons might pull the upset and relegate Fanning, who is battling for his fourth world title, to a second-round elimination heat. But Fanning dipped into a Backdoor barrel and earned one of the day’s best scores, a 9.43 to move in front by a hair.
Now Irons, one of the world’s best at Pipeline, will face Filipe Toledo to begin round two. Toledo surely didn’t want this matchup as he entered the event in second place for the season and still with a chance at his first world championship. It’s already not a wave that suits his style and now he’ll have to face one of the North Shore’s savviest and most fearless chargers.
Two of the contest’s five wild cards — Jamie O’Brien and Mason Ho — pulled off opening-round wins. O’Brien just outpointed Toledo and Kolohe Andino to jump directly into round three. He will certainly continue to be a force and a spoiler as the top seeds keep filtering in his direction.
Ho was a late addition after finishing third during the Pipe Invitational. He replaced Owen Wright, who had to pull out after taking a pounding Wednesday and required medical attention. Wright still had an outside chance at the world title, but he’ll instead watch the year’s conclusion from afar.
In what will be his final career competition, C.J. Hobgood had an impressive day one, winning his heat against Kelly Slater and Taj Burrow. He earned a perfect 10 in a tight barrel, sneaking out with no room to spare. Hobgood has spent 17 years on tour and Thursday had to be one of his most impressive contest waves.
In addition to Toledo-Irons and Zietz-Andre, a few other critical second-round heats feature Adriano de Souza against wild card Jack Robinson, Julian Wilson against current Triple Crown leader Wade Carmichael and Keanu Asing against Andino.
Surfline is forecasting a diminishing swell today, but there could be some early action at Backdoor and Off-the-Wall. If not, we could be waiting until next week to continue on to round two.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
