It may not have been the most spectacular victory, but Phil MacDonald will gladly take it. “I placed 2nd many times in my career but to eventually win a big event is just amazing,” MacDonald said. “It was one of the smallest contests in a long time but a win is always a win and I am stoked I finally got the boys to hold me up in the air and get that feeling at last. It was a tough contest, kind of nerving testing with the tricky waves all weekend.”

With his recent victory at the WQS 6-star Buondi Billabong Pro, the 29 yr. old from Sydney, Aus. did wonders for increasing his chances to return onto the WCT in 2009. Moving from no. 31 to no. 14 in the WQS standings, another year on the ‘CT is now looking like a reachable opportunity following what has been a slow start to the year. “I was not really into it when the year started and I did not want to put any pressure on myself,” MacDonald said. “With these two good results I guess I will start thinking of the possibility to make it back on the Dream Tour but I would need a couple of big scores still. I will see how things go.”

Carlsbad, Ca. surfer Pat Gudauskas finished runner-up to MacDonald at Buondi and earned himself big points toward his quest for next years WCT. With the waves being meager and fickle at best, Gudauskas was pumped on making another final heat. “I was so excited to make another final after the one in Florida in January but the waves were tricky and it was not an easy heat,” Gudauskas said. “Phil got that one excellent wave and with inconsistency of the swell there was not much I could do. I am still stoked.”

Nathaniel Curran still sits atop the WQS standings following the Buondi Billabong Pro. Here are the current rankings as the tour moves onto Spain:

ASP WQS Top 20 (Top 15 advance to WCT at year’s end):
1.Curran,Nathaniel (USA) 13200
2.Davidson,Chris (AUS) 12525
3.Kerr,Josh (AUS) 11325
4.Gudauskas,Patrick (USA) 11207
5.Boal,Tim (FRA) 10938
6.Nicol,Yadin (AUS) 10500
7.Courtney,Drew (AUS) 10475
8.Weare,David (ZAF) 10450
9.Lipke,Marlon (DEU) 10375
10.Henrique,Pedro (BRA) 10263
11.Khodr,Jihad (BRA) 9888
12.Pires,Tiago (PRT) 9663
13.Paulino,Pablo (BRA) 9600
14.MacDonald,Phillip (AUS) 9450
15.Bettero,Hizunome (BRA) 9400
16.Emslie,Greg (ZAF) 9375
17.Garcia,Sunny (HAW) 9350
18.Gossmann,Shaun (AUS) 9276
19.Monteiro,Raoni (BRA) 9275
20.Simpson,Brett (USA) 9200

Tags: Nathaniel Curran, WQS

Posted by Shaun on Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008 in Surfing.

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