ISLE FILE
Irons fifth in Australia
Advertiser Staff
Kaua'i's Andy Irons tied for fifth place in the Rip Curl Pro men's surfing contest yesterday.
The final day of the event was run in 3- to 5-foot waves at Bells Beach, Australia.
Irons won his fourth-round heat over Australia's Kai Otton in the morning, but lost in the quarterfinals to Florida's Kelly Slater.
Slater went on to win the contest, defeating Australia's Bede Durbidge in the final, 15.63-15.16. Slater trailed for 27 minutes of the 30-minute heat, but received an 8.83 (out of 10) in the closing minutes to win it.
In the quarterfinal heat, Slater jumped to an early lead and Irons was never able to find any good waves to stage a rally. Slater's two best waves received a score of 15.34 to Irons' 2.8.
The contest was the second of 11 events on the 2008 World Championship Tour. Slater, who already owns a record eight world titles, has won the first two events of the 2008 WCT.
"The title thing is there to get," Slater said. "But at this point, it's more about pushing my performance to see how much I can do on a wave."
Irons is currently tied for No. 6 in the 2008 world ratings.
