Wednesday, December 8, 1999

Rip Curl Cup title to
be decided today

Star-Bulletin staff

Hawaii's Sunny Garcia looks to be a favorite to capture his record-tying fourth Triple Crown of Surfing title today.

Garcia was spectacular yesterday, powering through the third round of the Rip Curl Cup at Sunset Beach, racking up the highest score of the day with a couple of eye-popping rides in 10- to 15-foot waves.

"Winning the Triple Crown is a goal of mine every year," the 29-year-old Garcia said. "To win it is the next most prestigious thing to winning the world. So many years I've come close to winning a world title and come up short, so hopefully I'll make a couple more heats and it will put me in a solid place for a fourth Triple Crown title and match Derek Ho's record.''

World champion Mark Ochilupo of Australia was eliminated yesterday as were Hawaii's Shane Dorian, Derek Ho, Jason Bogle, Pancho Sullivan, David Cantrell, John Shimooka, Myles Padaca and Shawn Sutton.

Local surfers advancing to today's action were Ross Williams and Tory Barron.

The holding period for the Gerry Lopez Mountain Dew Pipe Masters starts tomorrow and runs through Dec. 21.