Matty McG just took out the Vans US Open of Surfing Trials. Safe to say the young man from J-Bay is on fire. Hit up the press release below for more info.
HUNTINGTON BEACH, California/ USA (Sunday, July 30, 2017) – The 2017 Vans US Open of Surfing continued today with the World Surf League (WSL) Men’s Qualifying Series (QS) Trials event in three-to-five foot (1 – 1.5 metre) waves in Huntington Beach, California. Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) earned the victory after besting a tough field of 32 surfers. His win will now grant him the coveted wildcard spot into the WSL Men’s QS 10,000 event.
En route his win, McGillivray impressively surfed his way through four rounds to earn his place in the Finals, where he defeated Parker Coffin (USA), Jhonny Corzo (MEX) and Flavio Nakagima (BRA).
Parker Coffin went big during the Trials. Image: Morris
“I am excited to be able to surf another heat tomorrow,” McGillivray said. “Tomorrow I will just try to focus on the same things I did for the Trials. I plan to take it one heat at a time, try to surf the waves as they are and make a couple more heats. It is incredible to win today. This is the first time I’ve tried to surf in this event. It is one of the biggest in North America so I am just really happy to be in it.”
The Final witnessed 20-year-old McGillivray open up with a strong 7.50 to gain early control of the heat. With lulls and challenging conditions throughout the 30-minute Final, McGillivray continued to post solid scores and increase his lead over the field. McGillivray was tested halfway through by Coffin’s committed aerial maneuver for an excellent 8.00, but was able to improve his lead with a 6.93. With time winding down, Coffin, Corzo and Nakagima were not able to complete their maneuvers to combat the South African.
Matty McG slash and burn! Image: Morris
“In that Final, I tried to get a quick start and I managed to get that 7.50 early,” continued McGillivray. “That took the pressure off and it left me the rest of the heat to just try to find another good score. Parker (Coffin) got that 8.00, so I got nervous then when I heard that score. He has been surfing so well so I knew I had to have to try to backup my first score. Thankfully, Parker did not get that last score. I am really stoked.”
McGillivray will compete in the Round of 112 to vie for the Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS 10,000 win. He will surf in Round 1 Heat 1 when the event commences tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. PST.
McGillivray is currently ranked 142nd on the Qualifying Series leaderboard and his placement in the Vans US Open will provide him with another opportunity to climb the QS ranks.
The Vans US Open of Surfing will recommence tomorrow with the Women’s Championship Tour (CT) Trials starting at 7:00 a.m., followed by Rounds 1 and 2 of the Men’s Qualifying Series 10,000 at 7:30 a.m. PST.
The Vans US Open of Surfing will be broadcast LIVE from July 31 – August 6 via VansUSOpenofSurfing.com, WorldSurfLeague.com, the WSL app and on Facebook LIVE via the WSL’s Facebook page. Also check local listings for coverage on CBS Sports Network in the U.S., Fox Sports in Australia, ESPN in Brazil, Sky NZ in New Zealand, SFR Sports in France and Portugal and as part of the EDGEsport Network.
Recognized as the largest professional sports competition and action sports festival in the world, the Vans US Open of Surfing is currently sanctioned and operated by the World Surf League under license from IMG, the event owner. Official partners of this year’s event include Vans, Jeep, Airbnb, Michelob Ultra, Hydro Flask, G-Shock, LifeProof, CLIF Bar, D’Angelico Guitars, Red Bull, Frontier, Ralphs, Peet’s Coffee, and 7-Eleven.
For more information, check out WorldSurfLeague.com and for continued updates and scheduling for the Vans US Open of Surfing visit VansUSOpenofSurfing.com.
Surfline, official forecaster for the Vans US Open of Surfing, are calling for:
Nice run of waves on tap through the event window. Longer period SSW/S Southern Hemisphere swell continues to rise Sunday into Monday, as a modest to fun blend of tropical SSE/S swell from Hilary and Irwin mix in. It is of note that after an initially unimpressive run in the SoCal swell window, Hilary looked a fair bit better yesterday and today. That will help the cause Sunday and Monday. A nice size dose of longer period S/SSE swell tops out by the middle of the week as the tropical swell looks to fade. Fun, reinforcing SSW and S/SSE swells keep fun-zone waves running through the end of the event period as we may see a slight boost in NW windswell energy.
Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS Trials Round 1 Results:
1 – Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 14.43
2 – Parker Coffin (USA) 9.63
3 – Jhonny Corzo (MEX) 7.60
4 – Flavio Nakagima (BRA) 4.47
Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS Trials Semifinal Results:
SF 1: Flavio Nakagima (BRA) 13.00, Jhonny Corzo (MEX) 11.87, Kaito Kino (HAW) 8.50, Colt Ward (USA) 6.66
SF 2: Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 15.33, Parker Coffin (USA) 13.00, Derek Peters (USA) 12.93, Matt Pasaquindici (USA) 7.87
Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS Trials Quarterfinal Results:
QF 1: Colt Ward (USA) 15.34, Jhonny Corzo (MEX) 14.13, Ryland Rubens (USA) 13.33, Taylor Clark (USA) 11.07
QF 2: Flavio Nakagima (BRA) 14.77, Kaito Kino (HAW) 13.54, Imaikalani Devault (HAW) 10.83, Cory Arrambide (USA) 8.30
QF 3: Parker Coffin (USA 14.56, Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 12.43, Noah Schweizer (USA) 11.50, Seth Moniz (HAW) 11.00
QF 4: Matt Passaquindici (USA) 14.77, Derek Peters (USA) 12.97, Jack Boyes (USA) 12.63, Thiago Camarao (USA) 11.63
Vans US Open of Surfing Men’s QS Trials Round 1 Results:
Heat 1: Taylor Clark (USA) 12.63, Flavio Nakagima (BRA) 12.17, Dylan Graves (PRI) 12.10, Makai McNamara (HAW) 840
Heat 2: Colt Ward (USA) 12.83, Kaito Kino (HAW) 12.63, John Mel (USA) 10.70, Nate Dorman (USA) 6.17
Heat 3: Imaikalani Devault (HAW) 14.67, Jhonny Corzo (MEX) 12.40, Kalani Ball (AUS) 12.10, Jordy Colllins (USA) 12.10
Heat 4: Cory Arrambide (USA) 13.43, Ryland Rubens (USA) 12.76, Cam Richards (USA) 12.07, Rafael Teixeira (BRA) 11.73
Heat 5: Matthew McGillivray (ZAF) 13.83, Jack Boyes (USA) 10.73, Oney Anwar (IDN) 10.33, Keoni Yan (HAW) 9.33
Heat 6: Seth Moniz (HAW) 12.87, Derek Peters (USA) 11.77, Cole Houshmand (USA) 10.36, Joshua Burke (BRB) 10.33,
Heat 7: Matt Passaquindici (USA) 14.94, Parker Coffin (USA) 11.10, Manuel Selman (CHL) 10.76, Che Allan (BRB) 9.87
Heat 8: Thiago Camarao (BRA) 17.76, Noah Schweizer (USA) 15.23, Lucca Mesinas Novaro (PER) 13.37, Dane Gudauskas (USA) 11.20
