With the Pipeline Masters coming to a close last Friday, the dust has now settled and next year’s ASP World Tour picture is becoming clear. The departure of Andy and Bruce Irons from the 2009 door has opened the door for Marlon Lipke to become the first ever German on tour.

Speaking of Andy and Bruce, with both of them failing to end up in the Top 10 on the final ratings, this is now the first time in it’s 32 year history that no surfers from Hawaii ended ranked above the 10 spot. Freddy Patacchia was the highest ranked at #12. Hopes of bringing the title back to the islands will now be resting on his shoulders as he is the only Hawaiian returning from 2008. Kekoa Bacalso and Dustin Barca round out the rest of the small Hawaii contingent for 2009.

Take a look at how the 2009 ASP World Tour is set to be stacked-

ASP World Nos. 1-10:
1. Kelly Slater (USA),
2. Bede Durbidge (AUS),
3. Taj Burrow (AUS),
4. Joel Parkinson (AUS),
5. C.J. Hobgood (USA),
6. Adrian Buchan (AUS),
7. Adriano de Souza (BRA),
8. Mick Fanning (AUS),
9. Bobby Martinez (USA)
10. Jeremy Flores (FRA).

ASP World Nos. 11-27:
11. Luke Stedman (AUS),
12. Fredrick Patacchia (HAW),
13. Andy Irons (HAW),
14. Chris Ward (USA),
15. Kai Otton (AUS),
16. Tim Reyes (USA),
17. Tom Whitaker (AUS),
18. Kieren Perrow (AUS),
19. Dayyan Neve (AUS),
20. Bruce Irons (HAW),
21. Mikael Picon (FRA),
22. Dane Reynolds (USA),
23. Taylor Knox (USA),
24. Damien Hobgood (USA),
25. Heitor Alves (BRA),
26. Jordy Smith (ZAF)
27. Ben Dunn (AUS).

The Top 15 ASP World Qualifying Series (WQS) surfers in ranking order are:
1. Nathaniel Curran (USA),
2. Chris Davidson (AUS),
3. Michel Bourez (PYF),
4. Gabe Kling (USA),
5. Jihad Khodr (BRA),
6. David Weare (ZAF),
7. Josh Kerr (AUS),
8. Nic Muscroft (AUS),
9. Kekoa Bacalso (HAW),
10. Greg Emslie (ZAF),
11. Tim Boal (FRA),
12. Dustin Barca (HAW)
13. Tiago Pires (PRT),
14. Phillip MacDonald (AUS)
15. Drew Courtney (AUS).

The three 2009 tour wildcards went to injury applicants, Dean Morrison (AUS), Aritz Aranburu (EUK), and ASP WQS No. 16 Marlon Lipke (GER). Lipke will be the first German ever on the Dream Tour.

Tags: Andy Irons, ASP World Tour, Bruce Irons, Fred Patacchia

Posted by Shaun on Monday, December 15th, 2008 in Surfing.

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