Granger Larsen and Kieren Perrow emerge triumphant in Round 1 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito
The seventh and eighth heat of Mr. Price Pro Ballito’s round of 96 (Round 1) went down at the Surfers Beach in Ballito, South Africa, on Monday afternoon, July 4th.
Hawaii’s Granger Larsen clinched victory in the seventh heat to go through to the next round. South Africa’s Rudy Palmboom extended his life in the event as well by taking runner-up place. Brazil’s Jihad Khodr and America’s Gabe Kling were forced to make
an early exit from the competition after rounding out third and fourth position respectively.
The eighth heat saw Australia Kieren Perrow walk away with top honours, while his compatriot, Nic Muscroft, secured second position to advance to Round 2. Another Australian in the heat, Lincoln Taylor, rounded out third place, while South Africa’s Davey
Brand took fourth position. Consequently, both the surfers were ousted from the current Association of Surfing Professional Prime event.
The seventh heat featured an intense battle between Larsen and Palmboom. The South African took an early lead by scoring 5.50 points off a wave in the opening minutes of the heat, putting his rivals under pressure. Rising up to the challenge, the Hawaiian
locked a wave to earn an impressive 7.40 and stole the lead from Palmboom.
In the later stages of the four-way battle, the local favourite once again moved ahead with a 6.67-point second wave. However, the joy was short-lived as Larsen responded with a 5.23-point wave to finish with a heat-total of 12.63 points and sealed the fate
of the heat, leaving Palbroom to settle for second position.
Khodr and Kling were unable to really make their presence felt in the heat. Scoring 5.07 points off his first wave and 3.17 off his second, the Brazilian was forced to settle for third position. The American came up with an even more disappointing performance,
only managing to score 5.63 points in total from his two best waves.
ASP World No.15, Perrow proved his class in the next heat. The proven big wave surfer locked a wave almost halfway through the heat to earn an impressive 8.70. After adding an additional 6.00 points to his account, he finished the heat with a two-wave total
of 14.70 points. The score carried him off to victory.
Talking to the media after the heat, Perrow said, “As always there’s a lot of luck involved but everyone had a chance to get a good wave out there today. I got in late last night and it was amazing to wake up to perfect barrels this morning, these are some
of the best waves I’ve surfed at a Prime event in a long time.”
Muscroft had gotten a good start, earning 7.07 points from his first wave early in the heat, but had to settle for second place after scoring 6.67 points from his second wave and finishing with a heat-total of 13.74 points.
Taylor collected a 3.37 and 6.77-point wave early in the heat and after failing to improve on these two scores, finished with a heat-total of 10.14 points to take third position. Much to the dismay of the local crowd, Brand was also eliminated after scoring
7.57 from his two best waves.
For more updates on Round 1 of Mr. Price Pro Ballito, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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