Jamie O’Brien and CJ Hobgood advance to Round 4 of Billabong Pipe Masters – 2011 ASP World Tour
The famed North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, continued to play host to the last stop of the 2011 Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Tour and Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, Billabong Pipe Masters, on Friday, December 9, as the surfers battled it out for survival in Round 3. The third heat saw Hawaii’s Jamie O’Brien take on Brazil’s Adriano de Souza, whereas America’s CJ Hobgood squared off with Australia’s Julian Wilson in the fourth heat.
Despite struggling to find his rhythm in the mammoth-sized waves, O’Brien managed to emerge triumphant and consequently secure his place in the fourth round, bringing the competition to a premature end for De Souza in the process.
Hobgood brought the competition to a premature end for the ASP World Tour-rookie, Wilson, by defeating him in the fourth heat to advance through into the next round.
The current year had indeed been a memorable one for De Souza as he had delivered some epic performances and earned the boasting rights for beating the odds on a number of occasions during the course of last 10 months. However, the latest stop of the elite tour was not turning out well for him as he struggled to adjust to the waves on the opening day of the competition and continued to get troubled by the huge size of the barrels on day two.
As the third heat of Round 3 kicked off, the local talent, O’Brien, locked a wave early in the battle to post a 4.23 on the score-board and later added an additional 2.23 points to his account, taking his heat-total to 6.46 points.
De Souza did not have a huge score to beat, but the Brazilian force failed to rise to the occasion and ended up conceding victory to his rival after finishing with a heat-total of 4.10 points, which comprised of a 0.77 and 3.33-point wave.
The fourth heat saw Hobgood and Wilson looking extremely desperate as they locked wave after wave in search of a good score. However, their hunt was not going the way they had hoped for and prevented them from acquiring a good score.
Hobgood, eventually, landed a 3.77 and 4.63-point wave to take his heat-total to an 8.40. While the score hardly seemed sufficient, it proved to be enough to earn him top honours and confirm his place in the next round.
Wilson completely succumbed to the demanding conditions and only managed to score a 4.83 off his first and 2.00 off his second business wave. The disappointing performance led to his ejection from the competition.
For more updates on Round 3 of the 2011 Billabong Pipe Masters, stay tuned to bettor.com.
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