CJ Hobgood took advantage of nice conditions to pull out a win at the O’Neill World Cup at Sunset Beach, HI, edging Tom Whitaker in a four-man final.

Hobgood scored a combined 15.00 in the final, led by his final wave score of 8.50.  Whitaker scored a combined 12.67.  Jordy Smith, who received the contest’s only perfect 10 Thursday in the round of 32, also made it to the final but was fourth with only a 2.86 combined score.  Smith had a run of bad luck in the final including a broken board and injury to his leg.

Surfers had huge waves for most of the final, with 20-30 wave face heights.

“It’s perfect size and really clean. There was probably one or two sets a heat that were too big,” Hobgood said after the contest. “Just some macking nuts waves out there.”

The World Cup is the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing.  Dusty Payne leads the rankings for the mini-tour, followed by CJ Hobgood and Joel Parkinson.  All three will be competing at the Billabong Pipeline Masters which has a holding period starting Dec. 8.

For more about the contest, visit the Triple Crown website.

South African surfer Jordy Smith looked like he was on top of the world during day one of the Hand Loose Santa Catarina in Brazil. In the 15th heat of the first round, he scored the day’s highest heat total and single wave score (a 17.17 and 9.50 respectively).  But that was before he received two interference — leaving him with a 0.00 for the day.  Spanish surfer Aritz Aranburu took advantage, finishing first ahead of local Simao Ramao of Brazil and Smith.

“It was a difficult heat, I started well with an 8.50 score but Jordy also got really good waves,” Aranburu says. “Then in the last three minutes a small wave came toward me, and I knew that I need to get a big score, so I started paddling for the wave. I was in the best position but Jordy started paddling too, so the judges give him interference.”

While the heat with Smith provided the day’s drama, there was other action going on.  Most of the top seeds sailed through the first round, including Taylor Knox, Taj Burrow and Bed Durbidge.  Missing the contest are Kelly Slater, who already secured his 9th world title at the last event, Mick Fanning, who is injured, and the Irons brothers, who are taking some time off.

One other surfer missed at least round one — American Chris Ward ran into problems with his visa but is expected to make his round two heat.

For more information about the event, visit ASPWorldTour.com

Hang Loose Santa Catarina Pro Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Taylor Knox (USA) 14.83, Ben Bourgeois (USA) 14.43, Fabio Gouveia (BRA) 7.50
Heat 2: Marco Polo (BRA) 13.27, Royden Bryson (ZAF) 11.34, Kieren Perrow (AUS) 10.60
Heat 3: Fredrick Patacchia (HAW) 16.50, Tanio Barreto (BRA) 12.84, Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 9.83
Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) 14.67, Jay Thompson (AUS) 12.33, Gustavo Fernandes (BRA) 7.67
Heat 5: Marcio Farney (BRA) 12.00, Luke Stedman (AUS) 11.73, Heitor Alves (BRA) 11.43
Heat 6: Jeremy Flores (FRA) 16.03, Peterson Rosa (BRA) 14.84, Tiago Pires (PRT) 5.60
Heat 7: Mikael Picon (FRA) 13.67, Adrian Buchan (AUS) 12.66, Jano Belo (BRA) 10.70
Heat 8: Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.33, Carybean Heleodoro (BRA) 12.67, Roy Powers (HAW) 7.63
Heat 9: Bede Durbidge (AUS) 15.33, Raoni Monteiro (BRA) 14.57, Damien Hobgood (USA) 12.90
Heat 10: Mick Campbell (AUS) 13.90, CJ Hobgood (USA) 13.03, Alejo Muniz (BRA) 10.33
Heat 11: Leonardo Neves (BRA) 13.17, Tom Whitaker (AUS) 9.33, Pedro Henrique (BRA) 8.93
Heat 12: Hizunome Bettero (BRA) 14.83, Travis Logie (ZAF) 9.00, Chris Ward (USA) N/S
Heat 13: Bernardo Miranda (BRA) 10.73, Dayyan Neve (AUS) 10.33, Jihad Khodr (BRA) 7.27
Heat 14: Daniel Ross (AUS) 13.07, Tim Reyes (USA) 12.16, William Cardoso (BRA) 10.16
Heat 15: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 16.00, Simao Romao (BRA) 12.16, Jordy Smith (ZAF) 0.00
Heat 16: Ben Dunn (AUS) 15.37, Bruno Santos (BRA) 11.47, Ricky Basnett (ZAF) 10.54