Hawaii’s Moore rides to her third surfing world title

Hawaii’s Carissa Moore wrapped up her third world title before she hit the water Wednesday, and then she went out and proved how much she deserves it.

Moore went into the Maui Target Pro at Honolua Bay in a neck-and-neck race with Courtney Conlogue of Santa Ana, Calif., for the World Surf League’s women’s tour championship, and she clinched it when fellow Hawaii surfer Coco Ho knocked out Conlogue in the contest’s fourth round in clean, 4- to 6-foot waves Wednesday morning.

After storming past Tyler Wright of Australia in the quarterfinals and Alessa Quizon of Hawaii in the semifinals, Moore saved her best for last with two high-scoring waves to capture the event final, 19.50 to 17.90, over Australia’s Sally Fitzgibbons.

“You can never feel it until the end and this is definitely the moment,” said Moore, 23, who also won WSL world titles in 2011 and 2013. “Courtney has been surfing so well and she’s worked so hard and I never counted her out for a moment. It’s crazy being in a title race. There’s so many ups and downs and just to keep that confidence up when you lose. I’ve enjoyed the whole ride and seeing it pay off.”

In the final, Moore posted a 9.50 with an air drop and three powerful carves before getting into the pit of a barrel briefly before a closeout. Still, her next scoring wave was the big one, a 10.00, in which she took off and immediately found the tube on a heaving wave that TV announcer and former men’s world champion Martin Potter said was the “biggest barrel of the contest.”

It was Moore’s fourth victory of the season. She won the two season-opening events in Australia — the Roxy Pro Gold Coast and the Rip Curl Women’s Pro Bells Beach — as well as the Swatch Women’s Pro Trestles in San Clemente, Calif. She also won the Target Maui Pro last year, and that result helped catapult her to Wednesday’s world-title clinching victory.

“It was just nice to finish off the season strong last year here,” said Moore, who earned $60,000 for the event win. “It’s a place I love to surf and it lit a fire underneath me and got me excited for this season. That was the biggest barrel I’ve ever gotten in competition and I’m just so thankful for everything.”

Conlogue talked about her world-title runner-up finish.

“I think it’s kind of a roller coaster,” she said. “This whole season has been that way. I put everything out there and give it my all today. It just wasn’t my day. This is my best season so far and I’m going to look back at it and know I could have done better — you always can.”