Irons clinched his third consecutive world championship at the Nova Schin Festival in Brazil, despite being eliminated in the fourth round of the contest.

Irons, 26, is the only male surfer from Hawai'i to win more than one professional world title. Derek Ho (1993) and Sunny Garcia (2000) are the only other Hawai'i surfers to win world championships.

"He's so happy, " said Andy's father, Phil Irons. "He knew it was going to happen sooner or later, but he was still relieved to get it done."

Irons clinched the 2004 championship when No. 2-ranked Joel Parkinson of Australia was eliminated in the third round today. Parkinson needed to win the contest to have a shot at catching Irons in the ratings.

Even with one more event remaining on the 2004 World Championship Tour, Irons has an insurmountable lead. Through 10 of 11 contests, Irons has 7,824 points; Parkinson is a distant second with 6,396.

The final contest of the tour is the Rip Curl Pipeline Masters at the Banzai Pipeline, Dec. 8-20.

The third and fourth rounds of the Nova Schin Festival were completed today. Irons beat Brazil's Raphael Becker in the third round, 16.43-11.73.

A few heats later, Parkinson was eliminated by Brazil's Tanio Barreto, setting off Irons' celebration.

Irons was then eliminated in the fourth round by Australia's Tom Whitaker, 13.40-8.47.

Irons' younger brother, Bruce, was eliminated in the third round, along with Kalani Robb of O'ahu's North Shore.