Irons Does a Lot With a Little

Andy Irons’ heart beats faster whenever he surfs in front of large crowds. So when the Hawaiian surfer paddled out for the championship final of the men’s open division of the U.S. Open of Surfing Sunday, his heart was pounding like a drum solo.

In front of an announced crowd of 35,000, Irons won the event on the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier.

“I absolutely do better when I surf in front of big crowds,” Irons said. “It makes me want to surf better. And to watch [the spectators] from my board. . . .there’s nothing like it.”

Irons caught only four waves but scored more than enough points to win the 30-minute heat. Judges take the top three wave scores for the final score. He finished with 22.75.

Surfing with Irons in the final were Oxnard’s Tim Curran, who took second (18.98), and Australians Daniel Wills (17.98) and Todd Prestage (14.50). Wills is ranked first on the World Championship Tour.

“I watched my brother’s [championship] heat during the Op Juniors, and I saw what he did wrong,” Irons said, referring to his younger brother Bruce’s fourth-place finish. “I knew I would have to be patient and wait for the right wave.”

Which is what he did. While others caught whatever waves came their way, Irons sat and waited. He was rewarded with a wave on which he scored 8.0. He scored 6.25 on his next wave. But just when Irons looked like he was ready to slam dunk the heat, the ocean went flat.

“The one thing I didn’t want to do is start to panic,” Irons said. “So I remained calm and waited.”

That’s when his best wave--an 8.50--came in. Irons was able to perform some outstanding cutbacks as he took his board down the wave’s face to connect to another wave that took him to the shorebreak.

“My birthday was two days ago. So this is a great present for me,” said Irons, 20, who also competed in the Op Junior failing to advance out of the quarterfinals. “Now I’m just going to relax and party for the next two days before the Op Pro starts.”

Irons, who won $10,000, starts surfing Wednesday in the Op Pro and will face Cory Lopez of San Clemente and Renan Rocha of Brazil in the first round.

Tom Curren, who will also be surfing in the Op Pro, just missed advancing into the championship final, finishing third in the semifinals.

Like Curren, San Clemente’s Shane Beschen failed to advance to the championship round. He tried a different strategy that had him surfing by himself south of the other competitors. His plan, however, was a flop as he was only able to catch low scoring waves and finished last in his heat.

Pat O’Connell of Laguna Beach was eliminated in the quarterfinals.

In the Op Junior, Damien Hobgood of Satellite Beach, Fla., won with 24.25.

Ben Bourgeois of Carlsbad was second (20.25), Bobby Martinez of Santa Barbara was third (17.80) and Bruce Irons of Hawaii was fourth (16.25).

Three Orange County surfers--David Pinto of San Juan Capistrano, Micah Byrne of Huntington Beach and Peter Labrador of Fountain Valley--were eliminated in the semifinals.

Guilhereme Tamega of Brazil won the men’s bodyboard final.

RESULTS

Men’s open

Final--1. Andy Irons (Hawaii); 2. Tim Curran (Oxnard); 3. Daniel Wills (Australia); 4. Todd Prestage (Australia).

Semifinal Heat 1--1. Wills; 2. Prestage; 3. Tom Curren (Laguna Niguel); 4. Nathan Webster (Australia). Heat 2--1. Curran; 2. A. Irons; 3. Michael Campbell (Australia); 4. Shane Beschen (San Clemente).

Quarterfinal Heat 1--1. Wills; 2. Curren; 3. Guilhereme Herdy (Brazil); 4. Michael Barry (Australia). Heat 2--1. Prestage; 2. Webster; 3. Adam Repogle (Capitola, Calif.); 4. Shane Bevan (Australia). Heat 3--1. Campbell; 2. A. Irons; 3. Cory Lopez (San Clemente); 4. Sunny Garcia (Hawaii). Heat 4--1. Beschen; 2. Curran; 3. Pat O’Connell (Laguna Beach); 4. Asher Nolan (Atlantic Beach, Fla.).

Op Junior

Final--1. Damien Hobgood (Satellite Beach, Fla.); 2. Ben Bourgeois (Willington, N.C.); 3. Bobby Martinez (Santa Barbara); 4. Bruce Irons (Hawaii).

Semifinal Heat 1--1. D. Hobgood; 2. Bourgeios; 3. David Pinto (San Juan Capistrano); 4. Micah Byrne (Huntington Beach). Heat 2--1. Martinez; 2. B. Irons; 3. Peter Labrador (Fountain Valley); 4. Shaun Burrell (Redondo Beach).

Quarterfinal Heat 1--1. D. Hobgood; 2. Byrne; 3. Troy Tecklenburg (Seal Beach); 4. Andy Irons (Hawaii). Heat 2--1. Bourgeios; 2. Pinto; 3. Asher Nolan (Atlantic Beach, Fla.); 4. C.J. Hobgood (Satellite Beach, Fla.). Heat 3--1. Irons; 2. Burrell; 3. Grant Hudson (Australia); 4. Shannon Eichstaedt (Australia). Heat 4--1. Martinez; 2. Labrador; 3. Jon Rose (Laguna Beach); 4. Leonardo Neves (Brazil).

Bodyboarding

Final--1. Guilhereme Tamega (Brazil); 2. Dean Seppings (Hawaii); 3. Jeff Hubbard (Hawaii); 4. Paul Cooper (Hawaii).