Tour de Force: The ASP Turns 20

2000:
4/00 - Thirty-year-old Sunny Garcia from Hawaii wins his third Bells Beach championship and his fifth Triple Crown en route to becoming world champion, after 14 years on tour, only the second Hawaiian surfer to win the ASP world title.

5/00 - Two-time world champion Damien "The Iceman" Hardman, having mounted an impressive comeback of his own the previous year, retires halfway through the new season after a poor start. Andy Irons fills his WCT spot.

8/00 - Newly-elected ASP president and former IPS world champion Rabbit Bartholomew announces a two-year plan to increase the prize purses to $250,000 from $135,600 for 2002. Event sponsors are offered multi-year licensees if they pony up, and events held at prime locations are rewarded with more ratings points.

9/00 - WCT surfing hits Lower Trestles in Orange County for the first time. Andy Irons takes the victory at the Billabong Pro.

2001:
4/01 - Aussie upstart Mick Fanning wins the season opener at Bells Beach, as a new generation takes aim at the top.

5/01 - Cory Lopez wins at Teahupoo, solidifying his reputation as a serious contender.

9/01 - The catastrophic events of 9/11 force the cancellation of the European leg of the tour. The season becomes the shortest in ASP history, with only five events counting toward the title.

12/01 - After a solid, if unspectacular, season, Floridian C.J. Hobgood joins Frieda Zamba, Lisa Andersen, Kelly Slater to become the fourth U.S. East Coast surfer to win an ASP world title.

2002:
3/02 - Anticipation grows at the outset of the '02 season, as the "Dream Tour" gets underway. Prime locations, bigger purses, a fresh new crop of talent and Kelly Slater's return to competition makes it the most promising year ever.

4/02 - Andy Irons wins back-to-back events at Bells and Teahupoo. Kelly Slater skips Bells to be at the side of his father, terminally ill with cancer.

9/02 - Lucking into an epic southern-hemi swell, the Boost Mobile Pro at Lower Trestles scores the best contest surf ever seen in California. Luke Egan wins the event. Slater finishes 3rd, his best result of the year.

12/02 - Newly-focused, highly-motivated Andy Irons completes his turnaround, clinching the world title at Sunset Beach. He celebrates by winning the Pipe Masters, his fourth win of the year. Irons earns $197,875 in prize money, and twice that in salary.

2003:
3/03 - Gold Coaster Dean Morrison wins the Quiksilver Pro season opener in his own backyard at Snapper Rocks, defeating 36-year-old war-horse Mark Occhilupo in front of a fanatical hometown crowd. Fellow Aussie wunderkind Taj Burrow scores the event's longest tube, clocked at 10 seconds.