INTERNATIONAL NEWS - Few scenarios are more stressful for Championship Tour surfers than fighting for their elite tour lives at Pipeline, one of the heaviest waves on the planet.
Unfortunately, that's exactly the case for the following six surfers, all of whom need at least a Quarterfinal finish or better to insure requalification at the elite tour level in 2017.
While their CT counterparts like Ryan Callinan, Kanoa Igarashi, Jack Freestone and Stuart Kennedy are still hedging their bets on the Qualifying Series, these six CT players are all sitting outside the Top 50 on the QS, way outside the cutoff. All that really means is the Billabong Pipe Masters is the key to their CT survival.
Wiggolly Dantas
CT Rank: 20 Points: 22,400
Needs: 13th or better to gain any ground (dropping 25th), but without a 9th at Pipe he's vulnerable.
Despite a recent bout of early-round exits, Wiggolly's pair of fifth-place finishes at the Rip Curl Pro Bells and Fiji Pro, as well as a solid 9th at J-Bay, are making all the difference heading into Hawaii. His performance at Cloudbreak earlier this year showed signs of promise in shallow left-hand barrels.
CT Rank: 20 Points: 22,400
Needs: 13th or better to gain any ground (dropping 25th), but without a 9th at Pipe he's vulnerable.
Despite a recent bout of early-round exits, Wiggolly's pair of fifth-place finishes at the Rip Curl Pro Bells and Fiji Pro, as well as a solid 9th at J-Bay, are making all the difference heading into Hawaii. His performance at Cloudbreak earlier this year showed signs of promise in shallow left-hand barrels.
But Pipeline is a pressure cooker, and Wiggolly will need to rise to the occasion if he wants to keep his Top 22 spot. Last year, his 25th-place result in the Pipe Masters was irrelevant, as the No. 15-ranked rookie finished his first season in a much more comfortable spot.
This year, he's technically safe sitting at No. 20, but another Round Two exit may not cut it as he fights for requalification.
