Mick Fanning is not desperate for endorsements, but he received one from the highest of places in the surf world on Thursday.

The Australian, who is chasing down his fourth World Surf League championship, received the public backing of 11-time world champion Kelly Slater during the first round of the season-ending Billabong Pipe Masters at Ehukai Beach.

After saying his money and the odds were on Fanning to win the world title, Slater was asked point blank who he was pulling for with his heart.

“I like Mick,” Slater answered. “At the first contest of the year (Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast in Australia in March), I was sitting with him in the water and I told him that I felt something, that I felt like he was going to win the world championship this year. And then that shark thing happened (Fanning was attacked by a shark at the J-Bay Open on July 19). It’s going to be nice for whoever wins it, but for Mick, for everything he’s been through, to be able to be looking back on it, capping it off with the world title will be really nice.”

Slater, 43, had just finished his three-man heat in last place, but it was in the first (non-elimination) round, so he will have another go in the second round in an attempt to capture an eighth Pipe Masters title. It’s somewhat of a longshot due to the fact that five surfers here have a chance at the world championship. That number was whittled by one Thursday, when Australia’s Owen Wright withdrew with a head injury suffered during a Tuesday practice session.

Fanning, 34, had the second-highest-scoring wave of the day, a spacious and lengthy backdoor tunnel that scored a 9.43.

Tour veteran C.J. Hobgood of Florida had the only 10.00 of the day, ducking under the white curtain for about six seconds that seemed like an eternity in a heat win over Slater. This is Hobgood’s final event of his 17-year career.

“Trying to enjoy the moment just being here,” Hobgood said. “And to put a 10 on top of that, it’s overwhelming. After that wave, my whole body was freaking out with an energy that I can’t really describe.”

Hawaii’s John John Florence had one of the most entertaining waves of the day, a classic Pipe tube that led to what he called a rotation air 360. Not many can pull that off. No one else did Thursday.

“I wasn’t even going to go on the wave because it didn’t look that good,” Florence said. “The barrel was all right, but I noticed it had a nice air section. I was really happy to land it.”

Florence, a two-time Triple Crown champion who is not in the title race, made no bones about what his short-term goal is, and it’s something he hasn’t done before: “I want to win this event.”

Fanning, fellow Australian Julian Wilson and Brazilians Gabriel Medina (the defending world champ), Filipe Toledo and Adriano de Souza are jockeying for the world title that will be decided here. The Triple Crown championship that goes to the best surfer among the three North Shore winter events is also up for grabs, with Wade Carmichael (the Hawaiian Pro winner), Medina, Hawaii’s Dusty Payne and Fanning (the Vans World Cup of Surfing champ) leading the standings.