Op Pro Seeks Former Prestige, Popularity : Surfing: Huntington Beach event, which begins today, drops team concept and returns to individual competition only.
Beginning today, the waves just south of the Huntington Beach pier will belong to the world’s best professional surfers and another 200 who would like to join those ranks.
The Op Pro surfing championship returns for its 13th year and, in an attempt to recover its prestige and popularity, it is going back to its original format. The annual event consistently attracted the top competitors for a decade before 1992, when it switched to a team surfing format. Last year, it featured both team and individual competition.
But it’s back to individual competition only this time around, as it again becomes a four-star event on the Assn. of Surfing Professional’s world championship qualifying tour, a position it lost with the format change two years ago.
In addition to the $70,000 in prize money, the Op Pro serves as a warm-up to the U.S. Open of Surfing, scheduled Aug. 2-7 at Huntington Beach. The top three finishers at the Op Pro who did not qualify last year for the tour, will gain entry to the U.S. Open, a $140,000 stop on the world championship tour.
The combination of the Op Pro’s format reversal and the U.S. Open proved powerful enough to entice former stars back to the beach here.
Among them are three-time world champion Tom Curren, who also has won three Op Pro titles.
A Santa Barbara native who now lives in Biarritz, France, Curren travels eight months of the year, filming surf videos for his sponsor. He also has two children and a budding music career to keep him busy.
Both Op and the ASP offered Curren an invitation that would allow him to skip the Op trial rounds and assure him a spot in the U.S. Open. He also received another invitation--from his mother, who is getting married locally around the same time.
“I remember the very first heat of the first Op Pro,” Curren said. “It was Dennis Jarvis and Mark Richards. I remember one of them took off on a wave. He went through the pier and the whole beach just roared.”
Curren finished fifth that year, but came back to win the next two. He won again in 1988 and finished second to Richie Collins of Newport Beach in 1989. The 1991 contest was his last.
“I’m looking forward to the Op Pro,” he said. “It’s a great venue. The waves can be pretty disappointing, but the crowd is good.”
Although he’s said to be crowd- and camera-shy, Curren appreciates the Op Pro for its impact on others, especially competitors from other countries.
“I like sitting in the stands and watching,” Curren said. “It looks like a real sport. People are impressed by the big, noisy, American style of doing things.”
Of the 44 surfers who compete on the ASP world championship tour and are committed to the U.S. Open, only Gary Elkerton and Rob Bain are skipping the Op Pro.
Collins, who quit the world tour last year, and Pat O’Connell of Laguna Niguel will be competing in the Op Pro.
Collins recently won the Gunston 500 in North Beach, South Africa, the richest and highest-rated ASP qualifying event. He is second to Santa Barbara’s Chris Brown in qualifying points and is planning to join the world tour again next year. O’Connell is seventh and a strong finish in the Op Pro would help assure his place on the 1995 world championship tour.
Women and longboard riders entered the Op Pro in record numbers. Organizers planned on 16 women competitors and later changed the schedule to accommodate 64. Women’s trials start at 2 p.m. today.
Sixty-four longboarders are entered and competition begins at 4:40 p.m. today. The longboard and women’s finals will be Saturday, along with exhibitions by the Op surf stars and tandem teams.
Thirty-two amateur surfers are readying for the Op Junior, which begins at 6 a.m. today and wraps up Sunday.
And the men’s open trials begin at 8:40 today with the men’s finals 12:30 p.m. Sunday.
Op Pro Facts
What: 13th Op Pro surf championship
When: Today through Sunday
Where: South side of Huntington Beach pier
Purse: $60,000 for the men’s championship, $5,000 for the women’s, $5,000 for longboarding, $2,500 in scholarships for the Op Junior amateurs.
Format: ASP-sanctioned, four-person heats
Seating: Grandstand, pier and sand seating. Admission on the beach is free, but there is a $5 charge for grandstand reserved seats on the weekend. A two-day pass is available for $6.
Schedule: Competition begins at 7 a.m. each day except Sunday (8 a.m.)
Basics: More than 200 of the top men competing in the four-star qualifying event for the Association of Surfing Professionals’ world tour. The top three unseeded finishers in the men’s competition qualify for the U.S. Open of Surfing, scheduled for Aug. 2-7 at the Huntington Beach Pier. There also will be women’s, longboarding and the Op Junior amateur contests.