Jeffrey's Bay (South Africa), July 23: Kelly Slater is back in the hunt for an unprecedented seventh Association of Surfing Professionals world title after his victory in the Billabong Pro tournament at Jeffrey's Bay, South Africa. The 31-year-old on Monday defeated fellow American Damien Hobgood in the 1.5 to 2 metre (4 - 6ft) waves to post his first victory at Jeffry's Bay since 1996, when he won the inaugural World Championship Tour (WCT) event. Hobgood secured his career best finish in a WCT event via a series of tough clashes against Australians Tom Whitaker, Dean Morrison and Taj Burrow in round four, the quarters and the semis respectively.
The semis victory came as Burrow left the water for nearly 10 minutes when he thought he saw a shark. Burrow re-entered the water when he was assured by the announcers that it was harmless whale, but only recorded a trio of very short rides in the last nine minutes of the heat.
America's Taylor Knox (Carlsburg, California) was out-pointed by Slater in the other semi-final to also finish equal third.

In the final, Hobgood caught one of the biggest waves of the day and scored 7.33 points but Slater tallied a near-perfect 9.43 points and a lead he never lost.

Slater finished with a total of 18.36 to Hobgood's 15.83 out of a possible 20.

The win elevated Slater into second position in the latest ASP World Championship Tour ratings, 660 points behind leader Andy Irons (Haw), whose 17th place finish has narrowed the 1,000 point gap he held coming into the sixth of 12 events on this year's tour.

Bureau Report.