Sport

Jordy Smith joins surfing's elite

12 December 2008

Jordy Smith has joined fellow South Africans Greg Emslie and David Weare as a qualifier for surfing's elite ASP World Tour, despite being forced to miss the season-ending Billabong Pipeline Masters with a knee injury.

The South African star injured his left knee in the final of the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing at Sunset Beach – the second event in the Vans Triple Crown, which preceded the Pipeline Masters.

Smith had been in fine form at Sunset Beach, posting the only perfect 10 and also scoring the two highest heat scores of the contest. He had previously enjoyed success in Hawaii in 2006 when he finished second at Sunset Beach and won the Van's Triple Crown of Surfing "Rookie of the Year."

Chips fell right

Control of matters was out of his hands at the Billabong Pipeline Masters, however, but the chips fell right for Smith; when current ASP number four Joel Parkinson recorded only the second perfect 20 out of 20 heat score in ASP World Tour history on the second day of the event, the last of the 12 competitors who could have overtaken Smith was eliminated.

The 20-year-old World Tour rookie remained among the top 27 on the rankings, meaning he automatically re-qualified for the following year.

Rated number 25 before the start of the event and with his fate in the hands of those below him in the rankings, including Pipeline experts Damien Hobgood (USA), Roy Powers (Haw) and Australians Mick Campbell and Dean Morrison, Smith's chances of a second year on the dream World Tour looked bleak when his doctor advised him to withdraw from the Pipeline event.

Opponents eliminated

However, flawless two to 2.5 metre tubes on day one of the event, Tuesday, saw half his opponents eliminated by wildcards and local experts in rounds one and two.

In slightly smaller but epic conditions on Wednesday, the rest fell away one after another in round three, with only Hobgood's 17th place finish taking him ahead of Smith in the rankings.

Although his final ranking position will not be known until the event is completed, Smith is now guaranteed to finish in the top 27, particularly if Bruce Irons (Haw), who has qualified ahead of Smith for 2009, follows through with his decision to retire from the ASP World Tour after the Pipeline event.

2009 Tour campaigners

Smith will be joined on the 2009 ASP World Tour by fellow Durbanite David Weare and East London's long-time World Tour campaigner Greg Emslie, who finished ninth and tenth respectively in the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) rankings.

Three South Africans - Travis Logie, Royden Bryson, and Ricky Basnett finished the year outside the top 27 on the World Tour and failed to re-qualify.

Hodge on-song

Meanwhile, Rosanne Hodge demonstrated her affinity with the classic waves of Honolua Bay on the Hawaiian island of Maui when she reached the quarterfinals of the Billabong Pro Maui event on Wednesday, the first time this year that the East Londoner has advanced past round three in an ASP Women's World Tour event.

Hodge, 21, placed second in a tightly contested round one heat and then narrowly defeated Sam Cornish of Australia the third round to set up a last eight encounter against former seven-time ASP world champion and current world number three Australia's Layne Beachley when the contest resumes.

Hodge recorded her career-best result in the 2007 event at Honolua Bay, advancing to the semifinals before being ousted y eventual event winner Stephanie Gilmore.

Although she has already qualified for her third year on the ASP Women's World Tour via her number three ranking on the 2008 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS), Hodge will be determined to better her previous best and improve her current World Tour ranking of number 15.

SAinfo reporter