The WSL is doing something wrong. The last 2 Challenger Series contests of the year, and the last Qualifying Series event were all won by surfers on the Championship Tour roster.
Medina returned from injury at the Corona Saquarema Pro last month, earning his maiden major victory at home in Brazil.
Kolohe Andino then wins what was slated to be the last QS event of the year at the O’neill Coldwater Classic, before this event was added.
Finally, John John makes his return from injury at Haleiwa by absolutely dominating the field, successfully defending his title. Side note – Kanoa Igarashi (another CT surfer) bettered his 3rd place result last year, finishing runner up. Impressive.
If you don’t see why and how this is an issue, allow me to shed some light. Imagine Lebron James playing in the G-League. Jacob deGrom, one of the best pitchers in the MLB, threw 12.2 innings last year against Minor League teams. He struck out 21 batters of 38 faced. That’s over half, and if you don’t know baseball that is an astounding mark. How many National Titles would Tom Brady have if he were playing under Nick Saban at Alabama?
Bottom line is that there remains an upper tier and a lower echelons. To create this crossover between the two has been proven crass. From the surfers perspective, I can completely understand competing in these underclass events. Specifically for John and Medina, both winning (& defending) at their ‘home breaks’. The mis-step is with the Woz. They should not allow Tiger Woods to play a round against a golfer on the Korn Ferry Tour. Especially when the player on the lesser tour is struggling to make ends meet in an attempt to achieve his dream.
The only instance I could think of a sporting event achieving “success” through a medium such as this would be boxing, or MMA ‘exhibition’ events. Floyd Mayweather has undoubtedly enjoyed some nice profit margins like this. Maybe the ever-growing, unbuyable Wizzle is taking a page from ‘Money Mayweather’.
All I can say is good luck. I hate it.
Cheers,
hwilsin