Jamie O'Brien might be a Pipeline Master, but he still has work to do before he can master bodyboarding.

O'Brien was eliminated in the fourth round of the Turbo Pipeline Pro bodyboarding contest yesterday.

The opening day of the prestigious contest was run in wave-face heights of 8 to 15 feet at the Banzai Pipeline.

O'Brien is a former winner of the Pipeline Masters surfing contest, and is considered one of the best professional surfers at the famous Pipeline break. But this was his first try at a professional bodyboarding contest. He received a wildcard entry into the fourth round.

"I definitely didn't want him to beat me," Australia's Damian King said. "I would have been shattered, probably. He knows the wave, obviously, but I think this shows that bodyboarding maybe is not as easy as some people might think."

King is a two-time former world champion, and he was placed in the same heat as O'Brien.

"I know a lot of people came out to watch him," King said. "That's why I really wanted to make it out of that heat."

King proved his worth, receiving scores of 6.8 (out of 10) and 5.0 for his two best waves.

O'Brien, meanwhile, struggled. He received scores of 2.0 and 2.0 for his two best waves, and could not match the acrobatic maneuvers completed by some of the other competitors.

The first four rounds of the contest were completed yesterday.

Kaua'i's Oshi Grady was one of the standouts of the day, advancing through all four rounds. As an unseeded competitor, Grady had to compete from the first round.

"My body is beat right now," he said after winning his fourth heat in the afternoon. "But I knew this is what I had to do. The guys who surf the tour, travel around the world to get points, they get seeded into the later rounds. Guys like me who just stay at home to surf, we have to start at the bottom. I'm just glad I made it through this day."

More than 140 bodyboarders from around the world are competing in the three-day contest.

Some of the standouts from yesterday's rounds included Australians Toby Player, Chris James and Tom Wilson, Puerto Rico's Ruben Quinones, and South Africa's Michael Ostler.

The only other Hawai'i competitors besides Grady to advance to the fifth round were Tyler Ching-Johnson of Maui and Willy Petrovic of the Big Island.

However, there are still 10 other Hawai'i bodyboarders who have yet to compete because they are seeded into the later rounds. Among the top-seeded Hawai'i competitors are former world champions Jeff Hubbard and Mike Stewart. They both have byes until the eighth round.

The Turbo Pipeline Pro is the first event of the International Bodyboarding Association's 2009 world tour.

For status of the remainder of the contest, visit http://www.ibaworldtour.com.