Kaua'i's Irons beats Garcia in final

Advertiser Staff

Andy Irons rang up a big victory yesterday at the Curl Pro in 3- to 4-foot waves at Bells Beach, Victoria, Australia.

"This is a dream come true," said Irons, who is from Hanalei, Kaua'i. "I was feeling pretty good the whole contest, but I wasn't even thinking about winning the whole thing."

Irons did it in impressive fashion, defeating fellow Hawai'i surfer and former world champion Sunny Garcia in the one-on-one final. Irons scored a total of 24.45 points for his top three rides to Garcia's 22.65.

"My stomach was doing backflips because I knew Sunny could get a 10 on any wave," said Irons, 23. "I was lucky he didn't catch any good (waves) at the end."

Because the waves were rolling in at inconsistent intervals, Irons said he tried to catch "anything that looked good."

Meanwhile, Garcia's patience backfired, as he caught only four waves to Irons' seven. Trailing by less than two points, Garcia could not catch any waves in the final six minutes.

In the semifinals, Irons defeated another former world champ, Mark Occhilupo of Australia, while Garcia defeated Australian Daniel Wills.

With the victory, Irons is now the No. 1-ranked surfer on the 2002 World Championship Tour. Yesterday's contest was the second of 12 stops on the tour.

Irons earned $30,000 for the victory and also received one of the famous "Bells" trophies.

Following the contest's 30-year tradition, Irons rang the bell on the victory stand.

"I've wanted to do that ever since I was about 12," he said.