Chelsea Hedges, 23, has won the first event on the 2007 ASP Women’s World Tour, the Roxy Pro Gold Coast presented by Samsung, at what amounts to her home break of Snapper Rocks in Coolangatta, Australia today.
Hedges (formerly Georgeson) moved to Coolangatta from Avoca Beach in Sydney two years ago and has moved to ASP World No. 1 with her win today. The 2005 ASP Women’s World Champion defeated prodigious Roxy Pro Wildcard Carissa Moore (HAW), 14, the youngest finalist in ASP elite-tour history.
“It’s a pretty amazing feeling,” Hedges said. “I really wanted to win here because I’ve never won at Snapper before and my family was on the beach too so I’m pretty amped. I was waiting for Carissa to grab a bomb (set wave) and score a 9.0 or something but luckily for me she didn’t.”
Hedges has moved to World No. 1 with the win. “Even though I wasn’t really thinking about the ratings, with Carissa coming in second (NB: Carissa is not an ASP World Tour rated surfer) it puts me a great position for the start of the year and now I’m looking forward to heading down to Bells Beach the next event.”
Hedges (pictured below) had to overcome the world’s brightest up-and-coming talent to make the event final today. She defeated uber-rookie Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) in the Quarterfinals and second-year surfer Silvana Lima (BRA) in the Semifinal before meeting Moore.
“It’s always difficult when you draw a dark horse or any of the younger girls because they surf so crazy these days, they have so much drive,” Hedges said. “Steph has beaten me out here before and today I got her back so it was really good for my confidence because I have a lot of respect for her. Silvana has been on fire for the whole contest but luckily in my heat she couldn’t pull it off. Carissa is a great surfer and the next few years are going to be unbelievable for her.”
Moore, who after winning the Roxy Pro Trials was surfing in her first-ever ASP Women’s World Tour event, posted 9.33 single wave scores in her Round 3, Quarterfinal and Semifinal heats but only managed a 6.70 two-wave total in the final against Hedges.
“I was just excited to be out there,” Moore said. “I was a little nervous, but just excited. I’m totally stoked with the turn out and I’m just really happy for Chelsea (Hedges) – she did awesome. Just being able to surf out at Snapper with some of the best girls in the world, it was just really nice.”
Honing her competitive edge in various trials and junior events, Moore (pictured below) took out seven-time ASP World Champion Layne Beachley (AUS), veteran competitor and former World No. 2 Megan Abubo (HAW) and 2005 ASP Rookie of the Year Rebecca Woods (AUS) en route to the final. Woods will leave Snapper Rocks sitting equal 2nd on the ASP Women’s World Tour ratings.
“A semifinal finish is a good way to start the year, but it is one step short of a final and that’s definitely somewhere I would like to be,” Woods said. “I think this was my fourth semi so I’ve really got to work on that. Tricky conditions – I just wanted to get a couple of scores, but it wasn’t really going my way, bit of a shame.”
Tying Woods with an equal Roxy Pro 5th was Brazil’s Silvana Lima. Lima eliminated reigning Roxy Pro Gold Coast Champion, Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS), when she posted the highest single wave score (a 9.80 out of 10.00) and heat total (18.80 out of 20.00) of the event in the Quarters, but she was unable recreate that magic in her Semifinal against the eventual Roxy Pro winner.
“I was so ready to surf the final,” Lima said. “I was surfing a good heat and then my leash broke and I couldn’t get the score I needed, so bad luck. A semifinal finish is good, but I was ready for the final. I’m still happy though.”
The next stop on the ASP Women’s World Tour is Bells Beach, Australia for the Rip Curl Pro. After a one-year hiatus from the elite-tour calendar, the historical venue will be back from April 3-8, 2007.
“After last seeing Mel Redman-Carr win three events in a row last year, anything is possible,” Hedges said. “After this I’m going to take some time out and refocus. It will be great to get back down to Bells again. I love surfing on my backhand and I love surfing Bells so it will interesting to see what happens down there.”
Roxy Pro Final Results:
Final: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 11.33 def. Carissa Moore (HAW) 6.70
Roxy Pro Semifinal Results:
Semifinal 1: Carissa Moore (HAW) 15.43 def. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 10.50
Semifinal 2: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 13.33 def. Silvana Lima (BRA) 12.50
Roxy Pro Quarterfinal Results:
Quarterfinal 1: Rebecca Woods (AUS) 16.16 def. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 13.83
Quarterfinal 2: Carissa Moore (HAW) 16.50 def. Megan Abubo (HAW) 7.64
Quarterfinal 3: Silvana Lima (BRA) 18.80 def. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 8.09
Quarterfinal 4: Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 14.33 def. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 9.16
ASP Women’s World Tour Ratings after the Roxy Pro, Stop No. 1 on the ASP Women’s World Tour
- 1. Chelsea Hedges (AUS) 1200 points
- 2. Silvana Lima (BRA) 756 points
- 2. Rebecca Woods (AUS) 756 points
- 4. Melanie Redman-Carr (AUS) 552 points
- 4. Megan Abubo (HAW) 552 points
- 4. Stephanie Gilmore (AUS) 552 points
- 4. Amee Donohoe (AUS) 552 points
- 8. Layne Beachley (AUS) 360 points
- 8. Jessi Miley-Dyer (AUS) 360 points
- 8. Claire Bevilacqua (AUS) 360 points
- 8. Samantha Cornish (AUS) 360 points
- 8. Jacqueline Silva (BRA) 360 points
- 8. Melanie Bartels (HAW) 360 points
- 8. Rosanne Hodge (ZAF) 360 points
- 8. Caroline Sarran (FRA) 360 points
- 16. Sofia Mulanovich (PER) 180 points
- 16. Rochelle Ballard (HAW) 180 points
