Irons Remains Hot at Huntington Beach

Hawaiian Andy Irons completed a double whammy Sunday as he followed up his U.S. Open of Surfing victory last week with a victory in the Op Pro in front of an announced crowd of 35,000 in Huntington Beach.

Irons, who turned 20 last week, built on the momentum of last week’s victory to advance through his six heats and eventually faced Michael Campbell of Australia in the final.

Irons’ back-to-back victories are a first in the men’s competition.

“The U.S. Open was definitely a confidence booster,” Irons said after his 27.98 to 26.18 victory over Campbell. “I just tried to remain focused and not pay attention to what the other surfers were doing and surf my own style.”

Irons’ style, which is effective in anything from shorebreak to the Pipeline, was useful in the fickle surf of Huntington Beach.

“I’m pretty confident in what ever conditions I surf in,” Irons said. “As for today, it wasn’t that bad. I knew, though, that I would have to remain patient and not allow myself to get frustrated.”

Which could have been a factor since Campbell took the lead early on and caught wave after wave to keep his lead.

“That was kind of hard to watch Mick catch those waves. But it turned around after the first half and then I started to get the waves,” said Irons, who defeated Shane Dorian of Hawaii in the semifinals.

Campbell caught his first wave 10 seconds into the heat and scored a 7.0. Irons followed with a score of 5.50, but then Campbell caught the next three waves.

The final score is based on a competitors’ top four wave scores.

“I didn’t really have any strategy when I went out there,”

Campbell said. “I just wanted to catch as many quality waves as I could. I’m happy with my performance but I’m not content.”

Campbell had two tough heats to advance to the final round Sunday. In the quarterfinals, Campbell defeated San Clemente’s Shane Beschen in a close match, 19.85 to 19.25, and then had a close heat with Pat O’Connell.

Irons’ most crucial score came on his third wave when he was trailing Campbell by 4.60.

“That wave was big for me,” said Irons, who earned his first victory on the World Championship Tour. “I was kind of getting nervous when Mick was scoring all those points.”

Irons scored a 7.90 on that wave, which was the best wave score of the heat. From then on, Irons was in the lead.

Irons, who was ranked 38th on the WCT, jumps to 23. Campbell, moved up a notch to fourth place.

“Are you joking?” Irons asked with amazement about his new ranking. “I’m up to 23? God, I’m stoked.”

Irons’ victory also surprised some of the competitors, including defending world champion Kelly Slater, who was eliminated in the quarterfinal round by Dorian. “I’m surprised by the back-to-back victories,” Slater said. “But he proved that he’s a strong surfer and this will no doubt help him with his confidence.”

Irons won $15,000 for Sunday’s victory. He won $10,000 last week for the U.S. Open.

O’Connell, who lost to Campbell by .60, jumps from from No. 32 to No. 23. Nevertheless, O’Connell was still disappointed. He was unhappy with one wave that he wasn’t able take advantage of.

“It was a little choppy out there,” O’Connell said. “But I wasn’t quite surfing as well as I was this past week.”