One week after finishing second at the Bluetorch Pro in Huntington
Beach, Hawaiian Sunny Garcia, rated No. 1 in the world, returned to the
scene Sunday and reclaimed his dubious ranking.
Garcia turned in a spectacular performance at the south side of the
Huntington Beach Pier, and turned away Ventura's Dan Malloy, Cardiff's
Rob Machado and fellow Hawaiian, Kalani Robb, to win the $10,000 prize in
the Men's final of the Panasonic ShockWave U.S. Open of Surfing before an
estimated crowd of 50,000.
The 30-year-old captivated the crowd with several aerial and vertical
maneuvers, and all but made the Men's event a race for second place.
"It's always nice to win in Huntington Beach, and it's pretty sweet in
front of a big crowd," said Garcia, who performed in front of his wife
and three children. "I haven't seen my kids in two months and they were
here today. It's been a long time since they've seen me win."
Also on Sunday, Joel Tudor of Del Mar won $2,500 and first place in
the longboard competition, defeating current world champion, Colin
McPhillips, en route to the title
It was the sixth consecutive U.S. Open of Longboading title for Tudor.
The day before Garcia's triumph, Brazilian Tita Tavares on Saturday
conquered inconsistent surf and opponents Megan Abudo (Hawaii) and
Australians Kylie Webb and Prue Jeffries to win the top prize of $5,000
and the crown in the elleven U.S. Open of Women.
Tavares' win completed a three for three day for the Brazilians, with
Karla Costa winning the Manta Pro Women's bodyboarding event, and Diego
Cabel finishing first in the Manta Pro men's bodyboarding competition.
