Ryan Callinan, Australia’s last male hope at the Margaret River Pro, retired in a tight quarter-finals on Monday morning.
With the first quarter-finals when John John Florence returned to Hawaii with a knee injury, Callinan and the were there South African Jordy Smith the first in the water.
With an offshore wind that creates solid waves of almost two meters, and a few barrel trips, both surfers in the sixs achieved strong scores to assert their claims on the last four berths.
Novocastrian, 28, appeared to have taken the lead five minutes from time, but his wave score of 4.07 was just under.
Veteran Smith, who won 2017 at Bells Beach, had until the end of the run Priority and improved with a combined wave score of 11.0 to 10.90.
Ref: https://www.cowraguardian.com.au
