{"id":12486,"date":"2009-12-15T15:52:16","date_gmt":"2009-12-15T23:52:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=12486"},"modified":"2009-12-16T08:05:33","modified_gmt":"2009-12-16T16:05:33","slug":"taj-burrow-finally-wins-a-pipeline-masters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/?p=12486","title":{"rendered":"Taj Burrow Finally Wins A Pipeline Masters"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Taj<\/a><\/p>\n

The waves were small, and that may have been the secret to Taj Burrow’s<\/strong> success over Kelly Slater<\/strong> in the finals of the 2009 Billabong Pipeline Masters<\/a><\/strong>. But smaller surf did nothing to crush Taj Burrow’s mood as he accepted $90,000 in checks for winning the most prestigious event on the ASP World Tour.<\/p>\n

“It is 100 percent as good as you imagine,” Taj said on the podium. “It’s the one and only event that everyone would pick to win. I can’t believe I’m standing here right now. . . This is the best feeling I can imagine.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

There are those who will question the 3.93 score of Kelly Slater’s right barrel, but it seems like every time Taj and Kelly meet there is something that could or should have gone the other way for one of them. Truth is, unless it was pretty close to a 10, it wouldn’t have mattered anyway. This time Burrow straight up took it.
\nTaj Burrow Claims Billabong Pipe Masters, Parkinson Takes Vans Triple Crown<\/strong><\/p>\n

PIPELINE, Oahu\/Hawaii (Tuesday, December 15, 2009) \u2013 Taj Burrow (AUS), 31, has claimed the 2009 Billabong Pipe Masters, defeating fellow Finalist Kelly Slater (USA), 37, in clean three-to-five foot (1 \u2013 1.5 metre) waves at the Banzai Pipeline.<\/p>\n

The final event of the 2009 ASP World Tour season, the Billabong Pipe Masters culminated the Vans Triple Crown (an ASP Specialty Series), and provided non-stop, high-caliber action from the outset.<\/p>\n

Burrow wasted little time in putting Slater on the ropes in the 35-minute Final, racking up a 7.00 out of a possible 10 on his opening ride for an electric air reverse followed by some solid forehand maneuvers. With deteriorating conditions, Burrow stayed busy before collecting a 5.83 for an incredible full-rotation alley-oop, putting the pressure on Slater as time ran out.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were perfect backdoor waves this whole event and then for the Final it went onshore,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cIt was strictly turns. It was all about turns and hopefully doing a few airs and I dropped down to my shortboard and my plan was to just to let loose. It was tough because I knew Kelly (Slater) could do anything. Even when there was 20 seconds to go and I had priority, I was still scared. I just had nothing to lose and tried to let loose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s victory mark\u2019s Burrow\u2019s first ASP World Tour win since 2007 and his first-ever win at the infamous Banzai Pipeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis win feels about as good as you could imagine,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cFor me, winning this contest is the next best thing to winning a World Title. This is the one and only event that everyone would probably pick to win and I can\u2019t believe I\u2019m standing here right now. It\u2019s an amazing feeling. There are so many tough guys that you go up against in this event that I thought it was out of my reach. This is the best victory of my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Burrow, who has long been considered a legitimate ASP World Title contender, is thrilled with his finish to the 2009 season looks forward to 2010 with renewed vigor and hunger to hunt down the ever-elusive ASP crown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis win is an excellent springboard into next season,\u201d Burrow said. \u201cThere is nothing but confidence to take from this and I\u2019m excited for the Gold Coast. It comes around really fast. It feels like we\u2019re on holiday now, but the Gold Coast sneaks up on us pretty quick and I\u2019m excited for it. Hopefully I can win some more events, but this is the number one that I\u2019ve ever dreamed of winning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Slater looked near unbeatable throughout the Billabong Pipe Masters, deftly maneuvering his 5\u201911\u201d craft through one incredible tube after another before running into Burrow in the Finals. While his opponent stayed busy throughout the bout, Slater waited patiently for scoring opportunities that never manifested.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately the Final had the absolute worst conditions of the contest, but there are still fun waves out there,\u201d Slater said. \u201cYou could go out for a free surf and have a good time. It\u2019s difficult to transition when you\u2019re already expecting one thing. I had already had a couple of heats with barrels and then all of a sudden it\u2019s completely different conditions. Still, there\u2019s a shallow reef there, so you\u2019re expecting one to throw out and barrel, but it just didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former nine-time ASP World Champion was in the hunt for an unprecedented seventh Pipe Masters title, but the conditions didn\u2019t cooperate for the Floridian, despite finding the only barrel of the Final, scoring a 3.93 out of a possible 10.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought the wave would be more than a three,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI still needed two waves, basically. There really weren\u2019t any nine-point rides out there and had that been only a six I would have needed a seven. I thought the judges put me in a weird situation there, and in the end, nothing else came. Well, that\u2019s not entirely true. I caught that last wave and did an off-the-top and Taj (Burrow) took off on it and just kicked off the side. He almost stood up too late and could have got an interference. Had he done that he would have only been judged on one wave. Had I landed that air reverse I could have gotten a score, but it was a long shot.\u201d<\/p>\n

In terms of returning in 2010 for an unprecedented 10th ASP World Title, Slater is characteristically guarded.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know if I\u2019m going to do the tour full-time next year,\u201d Slater said. \u201cI\u2019m sort of feeling it out. I\u2019ve just competed for so many years, doing the same thing and going to the same places, it\u2019s a little monotonous. When you find some meaning in it and it\u2019s bigger than just going and surfing, then it becomes more exciting, but, unfortunately, this year I had a pretty lackluster year in a lot of ways, both personally and competitively and it probably showed in my surfing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean Morrison (AUS), 28, secured his best result of the season today, finishing Equal 3rd at the Billabong Pipe Masters to cement himself at No. 16th on the year-end ratings. Besting Damien Hobgood (USA), 30, in a tight Quarterfinal before falling to Slater in the Semifinals, Morrison put himself into excellent position heading into the 2010 ASP World Tour season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of hassling going on out there, but that\u2019s the way it goes when it\u2019s such a tight peak,\u201d Morrison said. \u201cI spend a lot of time out here at Pipeline though, so it\u2019s nice to have made it through to the Semifinals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dane Reynolds (USA), 24, continued his impressive run through the back half of the 2009 ASP World Tour season, finishing Equal 3rd today at the Billabong Pipe Masters and cracking the Top 10 in the year-end ASP ratings. Although quickly dispatching of compatriot C.J. Hobgood (USA), 30, in the Quarterfinals, Reynolds was unable to negotiate the deteriorating conditions in his Semifinal bout against event winner Burrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of stuck between trying to find air sections and still trying to find one of those rare tubes and ended up not doing either,\u201d Reynolds said. \u201cI just got stuck in the middle. I\u2019m stoked though. It was a good way to end the year and it\u2019s been a good event.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, was in the running for the 2009 ASP World Title before bowing out of the Billabong Pipe Masters in Round 3 of competition. Although Gold Coast stable mate Mick Fanning (AUS), 28, claimed the 2009 ASP World Title, Parkinson\u2019s efforts throughout the Vans Triple Crown (an ASP Specialty Series) saw the talented natural-footer awarded with his second consecutive Vans Triple Crown Title as well as a bonus $50,000 from the Vans Triple Threat prize pool.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my consolation prize to this year\u2019s ASP World Title,\u201d Parkinson said. \u201cTo me, the Triple Crown is the next best thing to the World Title. Last year I wanted to win the Vans Triple Crown and this year I wanted to win the ASP World Title, but I won the Triple Crown and I\u2019m over the moon with what happened this year. I should be proud of everything I\u2019ve done and I can\u2019t wait for next year and I\u2019ll be back strong for another Triple Crown and all that and I just want to thank Vans for stepping it up to a new level for putting out huge incentives for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Highlights from the Billabong Pipe Masters can be found on www.billabongpro.com and www.triplecrownofsurfing.com<\/p>\n

While the 2009 season has come to a close, the 2010 ASP World Tour is just around the corner, and will set new benchmarks in performance as it continues to showcase the world\u2019s best surfers in the world\u2019s best waves.<\/p>\n

For additional ASP information log on to www.aspworldtour.com<\/p>\n

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS FINAL RESULTS:
\n1 \u2013 Taj Burrow (AUS) 12.83
\n2 \u2013 Kelly Slater (USA) 7.10<\/p>\n

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS SEMIFINAL RESULTS:
\nSF 1: Kelly Slater (USA) 16.17 def. Dean Morrison (AUS) 7.00
\nSF 2: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.50 def. Dane Reynolds (USA) 11.67<\/p>\n

BILLABONG PIPE MASTERS QUARTERFINAL RESULTS:
\nQF 1: Dean Morrison (AUS) 11.00 def. Damien Hobgood (USA) 10.17
\nQF 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 17.24 def. Flynn Novak (HAW) 13.87
\nQF 3: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.90 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.40
\nQF 4: Dane Reynolds (USA) 15.10 def. C.J. Hobgood (USA) 8.67<\/p>\n

VANS TRIPLE CROWN TRIPLE THREAT AWARDS:
\n2009 ASP World Champion: Mick Fanning (AUS) \u2013 awarded bonus $50,000
\n2009 Vans Triple Crown Champion: Joel Parkinson (AUS) \u2013 awarded bonus $50,000
\n2009 Billabong Pipe Masters Champion: Taj Burrow (AUS) \u2013 awarded bonus $50,000<\/p>\n

VANS TRIPLE CROWN FINAL TOP 3 (Men\u2019s):
\n1 \u2013 Joel Parkinson (AUS) 6694 points
\n2 \u2013 C.J. Hobgood (USA) 6213 points
\n3 \u2013 Torrey Meister (HAW) 5775 points<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The waves were small, and that may have been the secret to Taj Burrow’s success over Kelly Slater in the finals of the 2009 Billabong Pipeline Masters. But smaller surf did nothing to crush Taj Burrow’s mood as he accepted $90,000 in checks for winning the most prestigious event on the ASP World Tour. “It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12486"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12496,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12486\/revisions\/12496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.boardistan.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}