Only four heats ran at Margaret River yesterday. The most important matchup was Miguel Pupo versus Sammy Pupo. Winner keeps their spot on tour, loser gets relegated to the Challenger Series.
While it’s not quite Squid Games, watching the heat felt heavy and heartbreaking. The Pupo brothers are tight knit and extremely supportive of one another. Can you imagine how they felt paddling out?
Straight off the bat, Sammy swung on the first wave of an early set, belted it four times, and nailed an 8. It was basically over from there. With inconsistent sets, all Miggy could do was sit, wait, and watch the clock wind to zero on the heat and his CT career. At least, for now.
The horn blew, and Sammy quickly broke down in tears. The cameras fixed on big bro Miguel consoling little bro Sammy in the lineup. Neither was happy. Sure, the WSL wanted drama with their mid-season cut, but are we sure they wanted that?
We also saw John Florence beat Gabe Medina on the very last wave of their heat. Needing a high 7, and without priority, he baited Medina into a lemon and then took the next wave. After a searing snap and an end section smash, it was over. We even saw a rare Florence fist pump, a subtle reminder that he does, in fact, still care.
The last two heats saw Griffin Colapinto cruise to a win versus Ramzi Boukhiam, and wildcard George Pittar drop a dime of a 9 to beat Liam O’Brien and make his first-ever CT quarterfinal.
While the comp is limping to the finish, help is on the way: the Finals Day forecast is looking solid, so we should see the best waves of the event on the most important day.
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