Men’s World Tour Picture Getting Clearer in Hawaii

The O’Neill World Cup of Surfing is down to the final 64 and as every heat moves forward, the hopes and dreams of many World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfers to make the 2009 ASP World Tour are being dashed.

In the last round of action, more than a dozen surfers were eliminated from the world tour hunt, including Brett Simpson, Heitor Alves, Shaun Cansdell and Nathan Yeomans.

Still fighting or a spot on the ‘09 World Tour are Shaun Gossman (pictured), Patrick Gudauskas, Phillip MacDonald, Yadin Nicol and Sunny Garcia.  The top 15 ranked surfers on the WQS rankings (not already qualified through the World Tour rankings) will get a slot on the ‘09 world tour.

While Garcia needs to place high in the contest to qualify for the tour, his comeback after being jailed on tax evasion charges last year is nothing less than remarkable.

Action on the World Cup of Surfing may continue on Tuesday depending on conditions.