John John Florence defeats Jamie O’Brien in intense final to claim Volcom Pipe Pro title
Hawaii’s John John Florence claimed the Volcom Pipe Pro title after edging past his fellow countryman Jamie O’Brien in the dying minutes of the final that went down at the iconic Banzai Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii, on Wednesday, February 1.
While Florence claimed top honours in the 5-Star event, his compatriot was forced to settle for runner-up place. Another local surfer in the heat Kai Barger finished third, while America’s Nathan Yeomans rounded out the fourth position.
All four finalists had delivered a series of exceptional performances during the course of the event to reach the finals. However, it was only fair to assume that the three Hawaiians in the finals enjoyed a slight advantage over Yeomans due to the local
knowledge of the waves and home-crowd support, though the American surfer was perfectly capable of beating the odds and clinching the win.
If there was one thing that the surfers in the final’s line-up were unable to beat, it was the magical performance put on by Florence. The young Hawaiian had already shown his mettle during the final event of 2011 ASP World Tour and reminded everyone once
again that there was hardly anyone who was as familiar with the Banzai Pipeline as him.
As the four-man final got underway, O’Brien got down to business right away and took an early lead by locking a wave to post a 9.47 on the score-board. Barger came close to his compatriot’s score by collecting an 8.87-point wave before adding another 9.33
points to his account to take his heat-total to 18.20 points. Florence, however, got off to a slow start and made no significant postings on the scoreboard.
As the heat progressed, the three Hawaiians remained busy in their search for a competitive score, while Yeomans struggled to catch waves. The American seemed like a lost boy searching for a way home, looking utterly helpless and clueless.
Entering the final minutes of the heat, O’Brien collected a near-perfect 9.93-point wave to move to a heat-total of 19.93 points. With his latest wave, he replaced Barger in the lead.
As the heat got closer to the buzzer, Florence stepped up his efforts to get hold of a good score. Just when it seemed that the 19-year-old Hawaiian had been bested, he got hold of a juicy wave which he utilised to put a perfect 10 on the score-board. However,
he still remained behind O’Brien on the scoreboard despite his excellent effort. If anyone thought that the fate of the final had been decided, they could not have been more wrong.
With just a few seconds left for the buzzer to go off, Florence clawed his way towards another juicy wave to score a decisive 9.93 off it. The desperate effort earned took him to a heat-total of 19.93 points, beating O’Brien by mere 0.53 points.
“I wrote myself off half way through,” said Florence in his post-final interview. “Kai and Jamie both had nines and eights. Jamie had two nines. I can’t believe it. Here at Pipe anything can happen. I surfed my first heat, then had my hand [injury] and tweaked
my neck really bad and that was killing me. So I was seriously considering not continuing on. I got some work done on my neck, taped my hand up and it all worked out.”
Florence took home a $20,000 first prize cheque and a warrior helmet, while O’Brien had to settle for a runner-up cheque of $10,000.
While Barger put on a respectable performance during the final, Yeomans’ effort was nothing short of disappointing. Earning a 2.40 and 5.17 off his best-two waves, the American finished in fourth place with a heat-total of 7.57 points.
With his success in Volcom Pipe Pro, Florence has moved to 13th place on the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) World Rankings.
Tags: