Five County Surfers Advance at San Clemente

Five Orange County surfers were among the 16 who advanced Thursday to the fourth round of the U.S. Pro Tour of Surfing and Bodyboarding event in San Clemente.

The county surfers were Kirk Tice of Huntington Beach, Mark Belanger of Laguna Niguel, Chris Billy of San Juan Capistrano, Ryan Keenan of Huntington Beach and Dan Kennedy of San Clemente.

Today’s matches begin at 7 a.m. by the San Clemente pier.

The eight winners from those matches will be matched against the top eight seeded surfers, who receive byes until the quarterfinals. Mike Lambresi of Carlsbad, who is leading the pro tour in points, and Dino Andino of San Clemente, who is in second place, are included in that group.

The bodyboard competition begins today at 2:30 p.m.

The tournament, which is the 10th of 15 competitions, ends Sunday with the final scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.