San Onofre State Beach … Wednesday was a day of upsets at the Boost Mobile Pro. But, Chris Ward won the heat he was supposed to win against the guy he was supposed to beat on the wave he knows better than any other surfer on the world tour.
Ward, of San Clemente, pounded Australia’s Luke Munro 15.44-8.67 in their round two heat and put behind him the Sunday’s mystifying first round loss where he often looked lost and out of sync.
Ward didn’t have priority when he took a quality set wave that Munro let go by early in the heat and got two hard hits on the left for an 8.17. Munro found a left several minutes later for a 7.00 that put him back in the heat, however Munro never caught another wave.
When a lot of other surfers struggled surfing on their back hand when the rights had disappeared, Ward adjusted effortlessly. The next left he paddled into, he hit the lip hard again and scored a 7.27 to bury Munro.
“I’m surprised he let it go by,” Ward said of the one Munro let get away. “It’s a good way to do heats. If I can do that in the future, I will. I went as hard as I could on it. If I would have held up, I would have got a six.”
Wildcard Dane Reynolds of Ventura seemed to surprise himself upsetting world No. 4 surfer Taj Burrow 15.83-12.26.
“I just kept getting priority when the big sets came,” Reynolds said. “In qualifying series events I’ll gravel to the beach. Here the waves are good and they don’t like to see you go soft. They (the judges) want to see you push it.”
In the following heat, the other wild card, South Africa’s Jordy Smith, beat former event champ Joel Parkinson of Australia 14.00-13.90, even taking tips from Reynolds before the heat. As the hottest rising talent in surfing, he sent a warning to the tour he’ll be joining next season. “Right now, they still treat me like a little kid. Next year it’ll be different.”
Hawaii’s Andy Irons saw his mood improve significantly after first beating close friend and event wild card Sunny Garcia 14.66-10.77, then watching rivals Burrow and Parkinson fall early.
But Irons acknowledged the work was not done in moving up the ratings just yet. “Mick (Fanning) is still the main guy. He’s been amazing, but he’s bound to have a hiccup.”
Santa Barbara’s Bobby Martinez trounced Florida’s Gabe Kling, Pancho Sullivan came from behind to edge 1999 world champ Mark Occhilupo, who retires at the end of this season (see Occy’s farewell interview below), and Shaun Cansdell upset Cory Lopez. Today’s round three heats feature Kelly Slater vs. Rob Machado, Ward vs. Raoni Monteiro, Martinez vs. Cansdell, Taylor Knox vs. Victor Ribas, Fanning vs. Reynolds and Smith vs. Irons.

– Shawn

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