Dec 5
2007
Da Hui Owner Makua Rothman Wins 2007 O'neill World Cup of surfing
Written by Da Hui | posted in News | 0 Comments
In the dying two minutes of the O’Neill World Cup final, Rothman secured the highest scoring ride of the 35-minute heat to edge out Brazilian Leonardo Neves. Neves had dominated the four-man, 35-minute final from the outset and the local Brazilian contingent were starting to celebrate when the wave of the final peaked up and Rothman took off.
Needing a near-perfect score of 9.2 points, Rothman found his way into the tube, earning 9.5 points to turn the tables and seal the victory. World champion-elect Mick Fanning, from Australia, took third place, and O’Neill World Cup giant-killer Daniel Ross, also from Australia, placed fourth in the final. Reaching the final was especially sweet for Ross, who has won his way onto the elite ASP World Championship Tour for 2008 with this result.
“Besides winning the award for the biggest wave ever ridden when I was just a teenager, this was winning in my backyard at one of the biggest contests of the year. It means everything to me,” said Rothman, 23. “I bled, cried, got my ass kicked, everything, on this beach. It’s just a blessing to make it.
“I know that (wave). I surfed here all my life and I knew. My caddy was telling me go deeper, but every time I went deeper, I was too deep to catch the wave. (The other guys were) too far out and I knew that. I just lined up on the house that my friend lived at all our lives and there’s always a bowl that would break there. And, the wave just came. I paddled as hard as I could and the rest was history after that.”
Rothman won $15,000 and moved to fifth on the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing ratings. Neves pocketed $7,000, Fanning earned $4,000, and Ross took home $3,000.
