TAJ BURROW WINS O’NEILL COLDWATER CLASSIC

Down here at the back half of the year, everyone’s fairly obsessed with world title race scenarios. It’s all ‘Parko needs this’ and ‘Kelly needs that’, without much attention given to the others still in the contest.

As soon as these guys lose, though - which happened in each of their first heats this morning - everyone kinda takes a deep breath and starts to relax a bit. The contest loses some of its urgency, at least for fans. The world title race going into Hawaii is established, now it’s time to watch the rest of the best lay into some perfectly golden peaks at Steamer Lane. Time to sit back, put on some more sunscreen (still hot as heck here), pick a favorite or two and start cheering.

Taj’s tight arcs fit the funky walls of the Lane. Photo: Kirstin/ASP

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