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COURTESY ASP
Michel Bourez posted scores of 9.0 or better in each of his heats Sunday on his way to winning the Reef Hawaiian Pro.
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Tahiti’s Michel Bourez built an early lead on a picture-perfect morning in Haleiwa and then watched as each competitor fell short to win the Reef Hawaiian Pro on Sunday for the second time in his career.
The 27-year-old, who first won here in 2008, posted 9-point rides in every heat he surfed. He advanced to the final against Haleiwa’s own Fred Patacchia Jr., France’s Jeremy Flores and Australia’s Dion Atkinson. The waves were in the 2- to 4-foot range.
Bourez opened strong on his first two waves, posting a 9.40 and a 7.77 for a combined total of 17.17 (out of 20). For the majority of the heat, all the other competitors had not registered a high score and were in a combination situation (meaning they needed two high scores to overtake the lead). With about five minutes on the clock, Patacchia scratched into a nice left and proceeded to carve and snap the wave to pieces good enough for a 9.23. The beach erupted with cheers.
This took Patacchia out of a combination situation and left him searching for a 7.90. The crowd was on its feet as Patacchia caught another wave with just two minutes left and proceeded to tear it apart. The crowd waited in silence. Then it was announced that the score was a 7.10 — not enough, giving Bourez the win and the early lead in the Triple Crown of Surfing.
"It’s such a good feeling right now, I feel great," Bourez said. "I came over here with big expectations. To try to make the final was my main goal, so to win it is such a good feeling. The job is not done. I achieved one goal, but there is still Sunset and Pipe, and my goal this year is to win the Triple Crown.
"The first time I won this event I felt like I achieved my goal because my goal was to make it on the World Tour and since then I realized the mistake I made was that I could have won the Triple Crown that year. For the past five years I have been trying to make the final and win it, so now it’s game on for the Triple Crown."
Bourez earned $40,000 and Patacchia pocketed $20,000 for second place. Flores took third and Atkinson fourth.