Fitting for a contest called the Monster Energy Pro, a surfer nicknamed "The Freak" prevailed.

Jamie O'Brien lived up to his nickname — and his growing reputation as a Pipeline master — by winning the event for the second time in his career.

"It's a great feeling to win this event twice," said O'Brien, 23. "This makes my year."

O'Brien lives in a house right in front of the Pipeline waves, so he surfs there almost every day. The experience paid huge dividends in the tricky 6- to 8-foot waves yesterday.

Because of poor wind and swell directions, the famous Pipeline barrels were difficult to find.

"There was a lot of luck involved today," O'Brien said. "I was trying to think when the last time I surfed at Pipe when it was like this. I knew I had to pick the right (waves)."

O'Brien proved his knowledge early in the 30-minute final. On his first wave, he tucked into a Pipeline barrel and made it out for a score of 8.0 (out of 10).

Midway through the final, he increased his lead by receiving a score of 7.25 for another barrel ride. He did not catch any waves in the final 15 minutes of the heat.

"It was the most stressful moment, to count 15 minutes down," he said.

His final tally of 15.25 was enough to take the $10,000 first prize. He also won it in 2003.

Australia's Mark Mathews made waves throughout the contest, but his underdog run came up one place short. He finished runner-up to O'Brien with a two-wave score of 10.25.

"A couple of waves just didn't open up for me in the final, but I gave it as much as I could," Mathews said. "I had a couple of good rights, and I just didn't get out of them. It would have made all the difference."

California's Rob Machado, who won the Monster Energy Pro in 2006, placed third. Gavin Gillette from Kaua'i was fourth and won the Todd Chesser Memorial Award for Sportsmanship.

O'Brien was also the standout of the earlier rounds. In the quarterfinals, he received near-perfect scores of 9.5 and 9.25, and the two-wave total of 18.75 was the best heat of the entire contest.

The top performers from the Monster Energy Pro are expected to earn invitations as "wildcards" to the Billabong Pipeline Masters in December.

Lance Ho'okano won $1,000 for the best tube ride during a 25-minute session just for longboard surfers.

FINAL RESULTS

1, Jamie O'Brien (Hawai'i), $10,000. 2, Mark Mathews (Australia), $5,000. 3, Rob Machado (California), $3,000. 4, Gavin Gillette (Hawai'i), $2,400. 5 (tie), Flyn Novak (Hawai'i) and Damon Harvey (Australia), $2,000. 7 (tie), Fred Patacchia Jr. (Hawai'i) and Danny Fuller (Hawai'i), $1,700. 9 (tie), Dane Reynolds (California), Mikala Jones (Hawai'i), Josh Fuller (Australia) and Gavin Beschen (California), $1,500. 13 (tie), Shane Dorian (Hawai'i), Raymond Reichle (Hawai'i), Chas Chidester (Hawai'i) and Dane Ward (California), $1,300.

Reach Dayton Morinaga at dmorinaga@honoluluadvertiser.com.