Tanner Hendrickson, Phillip Goold and Gavin Gillette enter Round 4 at Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco
Hawaii’s Tanner Hendrickson, his fellow countryperson Phillip Goold and Hawaii’s Gavin Gillette qualified for Round 4 (Round of 32) at the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 4-Star Quiksilver Surf Open Acapulco after emerging triumphant in their
respective Round 3 (Round of 64) heats at Playa Revolcadero in Acapulco, Mexico, on Thursday, July 19.
America’s Jeremy Johnston, Hawaii’s Dylan Goodale and Chile’s Camilo Hernandez successfully made the Round 4 cut as well after claiming runner-up positions in their respective Round 3 heats as well.
The two-to-three foot waves on offer at the primary event site on the latest day of the competition kept the surfers on the back-foot, pushing them really hard before granting them a decent score. Both the local as well as foreign talent had a tough time
holding their own in the challenging surfing conditions.
The fourth heat pitted Hendrickson against Johnston and his two compatriots Kevin Schultz and Oliver Kurtz in a four-man battle for the Round 4 spot.
As the battle got underway, the Hawaiian surfer got off to a slow start, but gradually built momentum to eventually reach a heat-total of 11.83 points, which proved sufficient to carry him to victory.
Johnston survived the day as well after securing runner-up position through a heat-total of 9.20 points, which served to take him through into the next round. Schultz and Kurtz, on the other hand, were forced to leave the competition field after rounding
out the bottom-two positions due to their final heat-total of 8.20 and 5.83 points respectively.
The next heat saw Gillette take on his compatriot Goodale, America’s Brett Barley and local talent Adrian Rodriguez in a four-man battle.
Gillette, the top seed for this year’s event, successfully battled the challenging morning conditions to get hold of a couple of medium-ranged scores and consequently finishing with a decisive heat-total of 11.84 points.
“With Dylan [Goodale] and Brett [Barley], they’re both really good surfers in these conditions especially,” Gillette said. “I knew it was slow out there and there wasn’t much opportunity so anything that looked like it had a bit of a shoulder I was trying
to go for and get a couple of scores and build a house. Luckily I did because in the end I didn’t get anything.”
Dylan made the Round 4 cut as well after finishing with a heat-total of 7.64 points to secure runner-up place, while Barley and Rodriguez found their names added to the elimination list after finishing with a heat-total of 7.34 and 4.94 points respectively.
Goold prevailed over his fellow countryperson Michael Valasco, Mexico’s Dylan Southworth and Chile’s Hernandez in the sixth heat of Round 3. Despite being troubled by the conditions on hand, Goold managed to register a heat-total of 9.00 points, which served
to earn him top honours.
Hernandez made the Round 4 cut as well after finishing with a heat-total of 8.54 points, whereas Southworth and Valasco got eliminated from the competition following their bottom-two finish, courtesy of a 7.70 and 4.64 points.
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