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This salacious possibility was however thwarted by wildcard, Sean Holmes. |
A slightly wounded Sean Holmes mid-carve down.
Andy Irons win over Luke Stedman this morning in their round three heat in the Billabong Pro meant two things to the surfing world, one was Andy is finally starting to re-claim the kind of form that helped him win three world titles, two was we were one on-step closer to the possibility of an Andy v Kelly Slater re-match. This salacious possibility was thwarted however by wildcard Sean Holmes. The one time local of Jeffery’s Bay is so easy on the eye out Supertubes his fans are many. The task of facing off with the nine times world champion and current world tour leader Kelly Slater didn’t faze the natural-footer one iota, proof being he’s made the quarters or semis every time he’s surfed in this event (beating Andy Irons on more than one occasion).
He was however not at his best, due to a back complaint, and was a little lucky to beat Kelly. Kelly, had every opportunity to move through to round four had it not been for a crucial mistake on his third big turn on his second (and best) wave, a wave that eventually ran all the way through the salad bowl section of J-Bays super long point. Early in the heat, Sean had the pick of the first set and rode his wave all the way through surfing safe and conservative – thus judges deemed it to be only worthy of four points. The one eyed South African spectators around me cheered their hero loudly following his next wave, stoked to see Sean’s more liberal approach to his power arcs and tight pocket jams. The judges too were impressed rewarding him a 7.33. Kelly played around with some smaller waves through the guts of the 30-minute heat to increase his best score to a 5.83. The clock finally took centre stage for the last 5 minutes as the ocean went flat. Like a couple of kids playing make believe surf contests at their local it was, “next wave wins.” Sean, who was holding priority, gave Kelly the first wave of the set and the crowd held their collective breath. The final pulse of waves a great way to decide a worthy winner. Kelly went to work on his wave with some flawless trademark hacks, as Sean ripped into the wave behind. Kelly finished with a big blast and had a solid score to come but it was Sean Holmes who really head-locked the opportunity. Smooth yet critical arcs, vertical re-entries and style floaters all accounted for. Both surfers were in and debate raged on as to who would get the scores, but it was clear, Sean had piped the ratings leader – and the judges agreed. Kelly’s final wave scoring a 7.23, and Sean’s a 5.77, enough for him to ditch Kelly to the curb. [Sean: 13.10, Kelly: 13.06]. Painfully close.
The world title race now well and truly wide open with both Jordy Smith (sitting second) and Taj Burrow (sitting third) already in the fourth round and Mick Fanning (sitting fourth) looking white hot.
Rub your hands together folks it could be a Pipeline showdown once again before a world tour champion can be crowned.
Jordy Smith will push himself hard to win the Billabong Pro, especially as he’s 2nd on the ratings.
