Australian Emerton Gets Most From the Least in Upset Victory

It seemed it would be the same old story, with world champion Kelly Slater successfully defending his title in the men’s G-Shock U.S. Open of Surfing on Sunday at Huntington Beach.

Since his first round Friday, the Florida surfer had been performing in his usual high-intensity, acrobatic way in steadily advancing to the championship final.

But Australian surfer Beau Emerton proved that the underdog is alive and well.

Emerton patiently picked his waves to win his first U.S. Open title in front of an announced crowd of 40,000. And if his upset victory wasn’t enough, he was able to do it by surfing only four waves.

Judges scored a competitor’s best four rides in a heat, so if a surfer had seven rides, only the top four scores would count.

“In waves like this, you just have to be patient,” said Emerton, ranked 35th on the World Championship Tour. “I tried to pick the waves I thought would take me from the outside to the inside. I guess I was lucky.”

Sunday’s conditions were a far cry from a few days earlier, when Hurricane Guillermo provided the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier with the biggest surf in eight years.

Slater started with an 8.33 to take a quick lead and immediately put pressure on the other three surfers in the heat, which included Victor Ribas of Brazil and Nathan Webster of Australia. But Emerton came back with a 7.33 to keep Slater within reach.

Slater remained in front until the halfway point of the 30-minute heat, when Emerton scored a 6.32 to move into first.

Slater pressed Emerton by scoring on six waves, but Emerton kept Slater back with his remaining two wave scores of 8.27 and 7.33.

“I started out good, but I just couldn’t keep it up,” said Slater. “I knew before the heat started that waves would be scarce. But when Beau caught those two 7s, I knew it was going to be tough.”

Said Emerton: “I haven’t surfed that much against Kelly, but I’ve been surfing pretty good the last four contests I’ve been in. But I’m really excited about coming here to America and winning the U.S. Open.”

Emerton becomes the first non-American to win the U.S. Open.

In the finals of the Billabong Juniors, Andy Irons of Hawaii made some crucial connections from the outside break to the inside to help him win the title. C.J. Hobgood of Satellite Beach, Fla., finished second, Taj Burrow of Australia was third and Danny Nichols of Huntington Beach was fourth.

Brian Wise of San Clemente won the title in the BZ bodyboard finals.