Nathaniel Curran, Nathan Hedge and Brian Toth survive Round 4 at Mr Price Pro Ballito
America’s Nathaniel Curran, Australia’s Nathan Hedge and Puerto Rico’s Brian Toth successfully secured their place in the fifth round (Round of 16) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) Prime Mr Price Pro Ballito after claiming top honours in
their respective Round 4 (Round of 24) heats that went down at Willard Beach in KwaDukuza, South Africa, on Friday, July 6.
With some of the best local and international talent going against each other in powerful one metre waves, there was hardly any reason for the crowd to expect anything short of thrilling action. The conditions were ideal for the surfers to really push the
limits during their battles, which led to a series of exquisite performances.
The opening heat of Round 4 saw Curran square-off with Portugal’s Tiago Pires in a man-on-man battle. Both the surfers had failed to make a solid impact during their previous heats and thus found themselves on the edge, facing a do-or-die situation.
As the battle got underway, both the surfers got off to a solid start. The determination to stay alive in the contention for the event title was apparent in their performances.
Pires collected a couple of juicy waves to get to a heat-total of 15.40 points. However, Curran responded with an even better performance. The American surfer got his hands on a couple of high-scoring rides to finish with a heat-total of 16.50 points, which
served to seal the deal in his favour.
The second heat saw Hedge take on South Africa’s Beyrick De Vries. It turned out to be yet another nail-biting affair as both the surfers fought tooth-and-nail for survival. De Vries used his local knowledge of the waves to register a heat-total of 13.34
points. However, Hedge managed to get the better of him by getting to a heat-total of 13.47 points.
The third heat saw Toth and Hawaii’s Granger Larsen battle it out for a place in the next round. The Puerto Rican surfer managed to get to a heat-total of 12.00 points, while Larsen finished with a two-wave total of 7.60 points. As a result, Toth advanced
to the next round of the competition while his competitor got eliminated from the competition.
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