Taj Burrow surprised even himself on Friday, winning the Quiksilver Pro at Snapper Rocks and jumping out to an early lead on this year's ASP tour after his third contest win in as many months.

But while Burrow stole the headlines with his win, he wasn't exactly the story.

Yes, he's the guy who popped the cork, nabbed the oversized check and waved the trophy. But Taj was but a subplot to the larger movement taking place at this year's Quiksilver Pro. Because two surfers still dominating the conversation even after the event is done and dusted are Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith.

Both have finally grown into their world tour shoes.

While enduring endless ridicule for failing to meet the impossible expectations heaped upon them, Dane Reynolds and Jordy Smith have quietly manage to climb the ASP ratings during their first two years around the track. They finished a solidly in the 10 and 11 spots last year -- a lofty launching pad for a title shot should either of them be so inclined.

But admitting to wanting a title is apparently sacrilege these days. While plenty of top surfers cooly infer a championship would be nice, admitting that you're going at it 150% apparently makes you a target. So they're all hedging publicly, giving boiler plate sound bites about taking it one event at a time.

Even Burrow, who just nabbed the ratings lead, has refrained from crying wolf again about this being his final push for the crown. The 32-year-old has been making retirement noise for years, and after 11-straight seasons on tour he certainly deserves a break, but he's finding it tough to step away in the middle of his best win streak ever.

But with Burrow, sustainability is always the issue. And the same could be said for everyone who finished equal third or better at Snapper Rocks. Point being, nobody's going to run away with it this year. This season's race will likely come down to the wire, but there will probably be more than one horse in the photo finish.

SNAPPER ROCKS, Queensland/Australia (Friday, March 5, 2010) - Taj Burrow (AUS), 31 has taken out the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast presented by Land Rover over Jordy Smith (ZAF), 22, in rippable two-to-three foot (1 metre) waves at Snapper Rocks.

The opening event of then 2010 ASP World Tour season, the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast started the year off with a bang, bringing the greatest assemblage of surfing talent in history to one of the most iconic pointbreaks in the world, and the world's best surfers shattered high-performance barriers once again.

"I'm so so happy right now - it's the best feeling on Earth!" Burrow said. "It's unreal. I have a good group of friends with me and my parents are here supporting me. To have everyone cheering me on in the final is really really special."

While the young South African led throughout the first half of the 40-minute Final, it was Burrow who changed the tide with a mid-heat assault, racking up several solid scores in larger set waves amidst the deteriorating conditions.

"I didn't feel like I surfed my best in the Final," Burrow said. "I kind of just did what it took to win. I just waited for the best waves, did a couple nice turns - nothing too wild. I'd rather have taken Jordy's approach - catch lots of waves and just let loose. That's kind of my strategy normally, but it worked fine. Being a bit more patient and ive than usual definitely paid off. But I knew Jordy could unleash and get the big score any moment."

Burrow, who has secured victories in the previous two events entered (Pipeline in December and Burleigh Heads in February), has been in sensational form over the past three months, and will look to continue the momentum in 2010 as he hunts down his first ASP World Title.

"What can I say? I don't know," Burrow said. "I surprised myself really. Obviously, Pipe was the biggest event I could ever win. I was just overwhelmed. I felt like retiring after that event. I just couldn't believe it, and didn't think it could get any better. I guess I've taken the confidence from it and worked on some good boards. Burleigh Heads was a good warm-up. I felt good that there as well there are fun little rights, and then here, I took a while to get rolling, but I just built up momentum. I felt great out there and here I am on the podium again - it just feels unbelievable."

Smith, who went on a giant-ing spree at the event, eliminating former nine-time ASP World Champion Kelly Slater (USA), 38, in yesterday's Round 4 before posting the best result of his young career."It's my first Final so I'm pretty stoked," Smith said. "It's unfortunate that the waves went kind of dead in our heat there, but we tried our best. It's been a great event though and I'm looking forward to the next one."

Long touted as one of the most dominant forces in the surfing world, Smith had yet to realize his potential in the competitive realm, but if this event's performance is any indication, the powerful natural-footer is a near-certain threat for an ASP World Title.

"I just feel a lot more comfortable with myself this season," Smith said. "I'm having a lot more fun with my surfing and everything seems to be coming together for me. I'm amped with a Runner-Up finish here and hope I can keep the momentum up for the rest of the season."

Dane Reynolds (USA), 24, looked the form surfer of the event yesterday, defeating defending event winner Joel Parkinson (AUS), 28, with an impressive 19.20 out of a possible 20. However, the young Californian was unable to find a rhythm in today's challenging conditions, bowing out of the event with an Equal 3rd at the hands of Smith.

"I felt pretty good yesterday and it felt like my equipment was finally working," Reynolds said. "Even though the conditions weren't as good today, I thought I could catch an average wave and surf it well enough to get a good score, but that didn't happen. When the other guy gets a good roll going, it's hard to come back - or it is for me anyway."

With his penchant for churning out Earth-shattering performances and a good start to the year, several pundits are considering Reynolds as a legitimate ASP World Title contender, but the humble natural-footer has yet to commit such a goal.

"I've never been in this situation before so it's hard for me to say (in regards to motivation for the ASP World Title)," Reynolds said. "When you're a little kid, everyone always tells you that the ASP World Title is the goal, but there's only one each season and 45 guys going for it. It hasn't been a goal for me yet."

Bobby Martinez (USA), 27, matched his best result on the Gold Coast today, collecting an Equal 3rd (his first in 2006), but the sole goofy-footer in today's event was clearly upset about the deteriorated conditions.

"It's disappointing to finish when it's windy like this today," Martinez said. "We all want to surf when it's glassy, and I'm disappointed that we have to finish today. I did my best to mix it up out there, but it's very challenging out there on your backhand today."

Pro surfing took a step forward Thursday. The next generation of world tour stars finally made a claim on the ASP's top spots at the Quiksilver Pro.

One day after the sport's biggest A-listers (read: Slater, Fanning, Parko) humbled the Freshmen class of 2010, they were slaughtered by a very lethal collection of second and third year pros poised to make runs at their lofty spots.

Today's lesson? Well, we learned that after a couple of trips around the ASP fast track, Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds are finally comfortable in their world tour running shoes. On Thursday their equipment looked good, minds relaxed, nerves calm, and their surfing was freakish as Smith and Reynolds eliminated Kelly Slater and Joel Parkinson respectively in some hard fought clashes.

The A-lister carnage actually started in the fourth round when Mick Fanning was upset by Kai Otton. It was a razor thin win for Otton, who has looked solid all week. Mick shouldn't be the only one checking the replays and second guessing the scores of the first exchange.

Smith and Slater squared off in the final heat of the same round, and Smith, very wisely, jumped out to an early lead. Looking loose, lively and powerful Smith took it to Slater, who simply couldn't catch up.

The quarterfinal showdown between Reynolds and Parko was an instant classic. The chunky Snapper walls were the perfect canvas for both surfers to put their entire arsenals on display. The heat lived up to its billing, too, and will likely be remembered as a seminal moment in pro surfing history.

Parko was his silky-smooth self while ripping his backyard to shreds, but Reynolds managed to finally put all the pieces together, which let him take his tour act to a whole new level. The spontaneous tail blowing, rail carving and tube riding was the best surfing of the entire event, and Parko--even with his two scores in the 8 range--couldn't do anything to stop the onslaught.

On Friday, Smith and Reynolds will face off in the second semifinal, in what's obviously the most highly anticipated showdowns any rabid tour fan could hope for. For what it's worth, Reynolds has owned Smith so far in man-on-man heats. The winner will face either Bobby Martinez or Taj Burrow in the final.

Should the two Californians, Reynolds and Martinez, go the distance, it would be the first time that's happened since 1985, when Tom Curren and Mike Parsons met in the Stubbies Pro final at Burleigh Heads. What's also noteworthy is that for the first time in years there's no Gold Coast local in the top four.

This is gonna be good.



Dane Reynolds (top) and Jordy Smith (bottom) put on what was arguably their best ASP performances to date on Thursday at the Quiksilver Pro while taking out top seeds Joel Parkinson and Kelly Slater.

Reality bit the 2010 tour rookies hard on Wednesday. Battle-hardened veterans of the ASP tour wasted no time feasting on fresh tour meat at the Quiksilver Pro. All remaining members of the 2010 rookie class were eliminated during Round Three by world tour A-listers: Parko, Fanning, Taj Burrow and Kelly Slater.

World Champion Mick Fanning got things started by coasting past Brett Simpson, reminding the kid from Huntington Beach (who cost Fanning $100,000 at the U.S. Open) that he was on Fanning's turf at Snapper.

Joel Parkinson gave Dusty Payne a good thrashing while showing absolutely no signs of last year's ankle injury. He did, however, resemble the Parko we saw early in the season.

Taj Burrow finally managed to put the clamp on the very dangerous Owen Wright, who wreaked havoc with the big guns last year as a wild card and is hoping to carry that momentum through in his rookie season.

Then, on cue, after a day of brutal passing rain squalls and 30 mph winds the skies parted as Kelly Slater took to the water against Patrick Gudauskas.

After a slow start, Slater put on his most inspiring performances in years. Though the scores didn't reflect it (because tubes were harder to find than a few heats earlier) his precision and handling of the throaty Snapper walls was as good as it gets. Slater's little swallow tail with a scooped deck fit the the low-tide bowls like a glove, and his movements and thoughts were one and the same as he surpassed even the best mind surfing session.

You could say it was vintage Slater, but that implies he was better in the past, and 38-year-old Slater looks like he's still getting better.

In the final heat of the day -- one of the best third rounds of competition you could hope for -- Jordy Smith fought off a late charge by Tiago Pires to survive.

As for the other notables: Bobby Martinez took down a still rusty Andy Irons. Dane Reynolds came from behind to
beat his Quiksilver teammate Jeremy Flores. Reynolds nabbed the lead in the closing moments after a shaky start. "Jeremy gets phsyched for big heats," said Kelly Slater, watching the Reynolds vs. Flores match. "And Dane's got a huge target on his back because he's Dane."

Reynolds admitted he was struggling in the stormy conditions. "I'm sure it's pretty easy for Mick and Joel when it's like this but I was lost out there."

Bede Durbidge, on the other hand, was finding every good wave that came through on Wednesday. The 6'1" Durbidge stood tall in number of ferocious caverns. He emerged repeatedly to earn scores in the 9.0 category, giving him the highest heat total of the day.

As good as the Round Three match ups were, Round Four is looking even better, but witnesses won't be forgetting Wednesday's action for some time, as it was some of the best Round Three surfing the tour's ever seen.

QUIKSILVER PRO GOLD COAST ROUND 4 MATCH-UPS:

Heat 1: Adriano de Souza (BRA) vs. Adrian Buchan (AUS)

Heat 2: Chris Davidson (AUS) vs. Taj Burrow (AUS)

Heat 3: Bobby Martinez (USA) vs. Damien Hobgood (USA)

Heat 4: Kai Otton (AUS) vs. Mick Fanning (AUS)

Heat 5: Joel Parkinson (AUS) vs. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW)

Heat 6: Daniel Ross (AUS) vs. Dane Reynolds (USA)

Heat 7: Bede Durbidge (AUS) vs. Kieren Perrow (AUS)

Heat 8: Kelly Slater (USA) vs. Jordy Smith (ZAF)

The Second Round of the Quiksilver Pro Gold Coast has officially come to an end, and three surfers made it through that have kept two different side plots rolling. First, Andy Irons took out fellow Kauai boy, Roy Powers, and got his comeback rolling again, but that's a different post. Two others made it through, and thus ensured a very interesting Round 3. Those two surfers are tour veteran, Taj Burrow, and tour rookie, Pat Gudauskas.

Where am I going with this? Well, these two making it through were the final pieces in The World Tour Superstars vs. The Super Rookies Round 3 Showdown. Let's get ready to rumble! In Heat 2 of Round 3 you have consistent Top 5 finisher, Taj Burrow, facing off against the future of Australian surfing and tour rookie, Owen Wright. In Heat 8 you have the reigning World Champion, Mick Fanning, squaring off with the pride of Huntington Beach, CA and rookie standout, Brett Simpson. In Heat 9 you have last year's event winner and World Tour runner-up, Joel Parkinson, taking on Hawaiian rookie sensation, Dusty Payne. That leaves one more World Tour Superstar, in fact he can simply be called The World Tour Superstar, none other than Mr. Kelly Slater himself, taking on San Clemente, CA rookie standout, Patrick Gudauskas.

Man, Round 3 is going to be a fun one. Before the year started, these rookies, were the four that stuck out to me as a possible sign the ASP is about to get a facelift. They are without a doubt the four best rookies on this year's tour, Wright and Payne being the two best since Jordy Smith and Dane Reynolds two years ago. Then you have: Slater, Fanning, Parkinson and Burrow. Between these four surfers, you just about have the best the ASP World Championship Tour has had to offer for the past decade, and then some, minus three parts Irons. Will one of these rookies be able to fire a shot heard round the world? Or, will the top dogs of the tour send these young pups running back to the porch with their tails between their legs. Seriously, what do yo think? Cruise over to www.fantasyactionsportsleague.com and voice your opinion.