2003 Boost Mobile Pro at Lowers

Damian Hobgood makes good.

September 5, 2003 (Lower Trestles, CA, USA) Reigning world champion Andy Irons (Kauai, Haw) will next face his brother, wildcard Bruce Irons, in an epic third round match-up in the Boost Mobile Pro of Surf presented by Quiksilver tomorrow morning. Round two of the US$250,000 World Championship Tournament (WCT) was completed today, as well as four heats from round three this afternoon. A Foster's Expression Session concluded the awesome day of surfing action.

Great 4-5 ft (1.5m) waves were on offer at the famed Californian break as another beautiful Californian day greeted mainland America's most important surfing event.

Wildcard Irons began slowly in the morning's first heat against current ratings #3 Kieren Perrow (Byron Bay, Aus), making some early mistakes. Requiring an 8.34 towards the end, the Kauaian scanned a flat ocean. Then with only 10-seconds remaining a set appeared and with priority he was able to snag the lefthander and execute some great backhand re-entries, followed by a small aerial and then floating closeout re-entry to post the needed score of 8.5-points.

"I was surprised that wave came," admitted Irons, of his heat-winning ride. "Then I wasn't sure if I got the score, and I only just did, so I still can't believe it. I made a few mistakes early on, and rode a different board when I was warming up this morning, so I wasn't really ready. I blew priority a couple of times...

"Yeah, I'm ready," he added, in anticipation of facing his brother Andy in round three tomorrow.

Perrow's enjoyed great success this year with two semifinals and another two quarterfinal berths, but made the mistake of letting priority go toward the end which allowed his opponent the final, and costly chance.

"I made the mistake of catching that righthander near the end," said a disappointed Perrow. "In hindsight I shouldn't have gone and held priority, cause then that set popped up and there was no opportunity to comeback. He got it, and surfed it really well. You can never count Bruce out, as he's too good."

Lower Trestles overview

World #5 Mick Fanning (Gold Coast, Aus) later displayed a near-flawless performance to post the best single and combined scores of the Boost Mobile Pro presented by Quiksilver. Against fellow Australian Toby Martin (Dee Why, NSW) - who beat Cory Lopez (FL, USA) this morning - Fanning put his super fast approach into overdrive with searing carves and critical snaps. He earned a 9.63 for his best ride, and then another 9.5 to set the benchmark of 19.13-points.

"The waves were really good," began Fanning. "Yesterday I was still ironing out the bugs, but I felt really good today. My board was feeling really good, so I'm all fired up. I'm just amped. Hopefully I can go out there and do the same thing, or ever better tomorrow. It's such a fun wave and I'll be trying to get a result."

West Australian Jake Paterson stopped the rampaging Guilherme Herdy with another awesome forehand attack. The current ratings #17 found perfect rhythm with an inconsistent ocean and blasted his way into round four.

"I was freaking about going against Herdy after seeing his earlier heat," admitted Paterson. "He was ripping. His waves in that heat were incredible, and I had incredible waves then too. That's when you see the level go through the roof. I was trying to free surf, basically. I've just got to keep the rhythm."

Herdy, who earlier unleashed one of the most commanding backhand performances of the event against fellow countryman Flavio Padaratz to collect a 9.33 and near-perfect 9.6, unfortunately sat most of the next bout waiting for similar waves.

"It's pretty hard losing after my heat earlier," acknowledged Herdy. "It was inconsistent and I couldn't find the waves. I did my best, but it's OK. I'm still happy as I had a great heat before and I'll just train hard for the next events."

World #4 Taj Burrow (West Australia) proved one of the form surfers of the event by eliminating both Tim Curran (Ca, USA) and then Fabio Gouveia (Brz) in round three. Gouveia, who accounted for Damien Hobgood (FL, USA) this morning, also surfed great against the West Australian, but was unable to match the moves of the 25-year-old. Burrow's seemingly effortless forehand carves and tailslides, not excluding his aerial maneuvers, earned eight plus scores consistently.