HUNTINGTON BEACH, California/USA (Saturday, August 7, 2010) – Carissa Moore (Honolulu, HI), 17, won the Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP) 6-Star Women’s US Open of Surfing presented by Hurley and Nike 6.0 in a wave-starved Final over Sally Fitzgibbons (AUS), 19, at South Huntington Beach Pier to take out $50,000, the richest first place prize purse in women’s surfing history.
Surfers competing in the US Open of Surfing are out to capitalize on the crucial ratings points on offer to either maintain their position on, or qualify for the ASP Dream Tour. Moore, who is currently competing in her rookie year on the ASP Women’s Dream Tour, started off with two small scores to start the heat, and locked into a lefthander in the dying seconds of the heat to capitalize on her priority to clinch the 2010 Women’s US Open of Surfing title over Fitzgibbons.
“I was pretty nervous because I only had two 4 point scores,” Moore said. “Sally (Fitzgibbons) is gnarly and is a great competitor and I knew when that last set came, if I didn’t get on it Sally would have gotten the score easily. I’m just so on top of the world right now, I’m so psyched.”
The tough victory earned by Moore also saw the young Hawaiian take out the richest prize purse in women’s surfing history and the talented natural-footer was beyond belief with her accomplishment. “It is really amazing to win this event,” Moore said. “I just can’t even believe it right now. It just seems really surreal. That Final went by so fast and I wish I could have done some more surfing, but I’m just really stoked.”
Fitzgibbons, who smashed the highest scores of women’s competition throughout the event’s entirety, struggled to get a start in the Final and finished runner-up. “It was a really tough Final and there wasn’t much opportunity to open up,” Fitzgibbons said. “I had a really good time here at the US Open and second place is awesome so I’ll just take it and move on to the next event.”
Fitzgibbons, who has been the runner-up in the last three ASP Women’s World Tour events and pocketed $US15,000 for second place, was disappointed with the loss, but feels she is close to locking down a major victory in the near future. “My time is obviously around the corner,” Fitzgibbons said. “I wanted to win that one, but there are more events and it’s great that Nike put up the extra money. It really added to the excitement and hopefully next time I catch a few more waves” Fitzgibbons retains her lead in the World Star Rankings and also continues to hold down second place in the World Championship race.