Florence eyes WSL title repeat as Pipe Masters gets underway
COURTESY WORLD SURF LEAGUE
Wildcard Benji Brand of Hawaii will surf in round two of the 2017 Billabong Pipe Masters after placing second in heat 5 of round one today. Brand was part of the upset heat when world title contender Gabriel Medina of Brazil placed third in the heat.
The Billabong Pipe Masters in memory of Andy Irons is on today, according to the World Surf League, with pumping 8- to 10-foot plus waves at Banzai Pipeline on Oahu’s North Shore.
Round one started at 8 a.m., with four surfers in contention, including John John Florence of Hawaii, the reigning WSL Champion, along with Gabriel Medina of Brazil, Jordy Smith of South Africa and Julian Wilson of Australia (AUS). Round two, heats one through four, are on standby today pending surf conditions.
Florence is up against Wiggolly Dantas of Brazil and Dusty Payne of Hawaii in round one, heat six. Florence will win his second WSL title if he makes the final at Pipeline.
“Right now we have really clean conditions,” said Kieren Perrow, WSL Commissioner in a press release. “It is much better than we expected and also much more peaky than we expected with both Pipe and Backdoor available, which is also a surprise. We thought it was going to be mainly Backdoor today. Fingers crossed the wind will hold. Eight-to-10 foot out there and we already saw some incredible rides today, so the event is on.”
The Billabong Pipe Masters is the final stop on the 2017 WSL Championship Tour and the third gem of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing. The live broadcast is available at WorldSurfLeague.com.
