Pro Surfing and Contests

WQS Roundup - final rankings for 2008

The World Qualifying Series officially wrapped up this week, with the final 15 World Tour qualifiers all but set in stone.  I give you your final 15:

1 Nathaniel Curran (USA)

2 Chris Davidson (AUS)

3 Michel Bourez (PYF)

4 Gabe Kling (USA)

5 Jihad Khodr (BRA)

6 David Weare (ZAF)

7 Josh Kerr (AUS)

8 Nic Muscroft (AUS)

9 Kekoa Bacalso (HAW)

10 Greg Emslie (ZAF)

11 Tim Boal (FRA)

12 Dustin Barca (HAW)

13 Tiago Pires (PRT)

14 Phillip MacDonald (AUS)

15 Drew Courtney (AUS)

Several of the guys are veterans, making their way back on to the World Tour this year, including Phillip MacDonald, Chris Davidson, David Weare, Greg Emslie, Nic Muscroft, Josh Kerr and Gabe Kling, having fallen off the tour in years past.  Jihad Khodr has requalified for the 2009 tour through the WQS, a feat he couldn’t come close to accomplishing on the World Tour, where he currently sits near the back of the pack. 

The 2009 rookie pack includes Drew Courtney, Dustin Barca, Tim Boal, Kekoa Bacalso, Michel Bourez and Nathaniel Curran.  Welcome to the dream tour, boys!

Tiago Pires is the only surfer among the top 15 who still has a chance at double qualifying, finishing in the top bracket of both the WQS and World Tour.  This fact leaves WQS number 16, Marlon Lipke (DEU) as the only surfer outside the top 15 who technically still has a chance to qualify for the big leagues.  Again, Marlon’s qualification is completely contingent on his friend and fellow countryman, Tiago Pires having a strong finish at the final contest of the 2008 World Tour season, the Billabong Pipeline Masters.  Tiago is capable of doing well and taking down top seeds as he has shown in the past, although he had a horrible showing at Pipe last year, having been comboed by everyone else in his first Round heat, and then taken out by a wildcard in his Round 2 heat.  Jeremy Flores (FRA) aside, the odds of a European surfer finishing strong at Pipeline are never the greatest. 

Tune in to the Pipeline contest this week to see if Tiago can get the necessary results to elevate Marlon to the World Tour, and to see who else falls in and out of the World Tour top 27.  See you at Pipeline.

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