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The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 2:41 p.m., Saturday, May 2, 2009

Hawaii's Patacchia, Barger surf to victories in California

Advertiser Staff

Hawai'i surfers Fred Patacchia Jr. and Kai Barger won contests today in California.

Patacchia won the Nike 6.0 Lowers Pro, and Barger won the Oakley Pro Junior. Both events were run today in 2- to 4-foot waves at Lower Trestles, San Clemente, Calif.

Patacchia dominated the Lowers Pro, which featured most of the top-ranked pro surfers in America. He had a near-perfect score of 9.17 (out of 10) in the final to defeat North Carolina's Ben Bourgeois.

"I'm psyching," said Patacchia, who is from O'ahu's North Shore. "We got fun waves throughout the whole event and to do it at pretty fun Trestles with only one other guy out is even better, so I'm happy."

Patacchia received $20,000 for the victory. The Lowers Pro is part of surfing's World Qualifying Series, so it did not award points for the ASP World Tour. Patacchia is currently ranked No. 3 on the World Tour.

Maui's Barger, who won the world junior championship in January, proved his worth with a stellar performance in the Oakley Pro Junior. He had a two-wave total score of 18.6 (out of 20) to win the $2,500 first-place check.

"Man, that final was epic, it glassed off out there and the sets just started pumping," Barger said. "I finally got my chance to get a nice open face right and just tee off, which is what I've been waiting to do this whole time, so I'm just super stoked."

The Oakley Pro Junior was for surfers age 20 and younger.