Larsen into round of 96 at O’Neill World Cup of Surfing

HALEIWA, Oahu --- Granger Larsen of Lahaina advanced with a second-place finish in his first-round heat in the O'Neill World Cup of Surfing on Saturday in waves of 8 feet and above at Sunset Beach, while Kai Barger of Haiku was eliminated.

Larsen had a score of 11.70 in his heat, the second-best of the day at the Triple Crown event, placing second to Sunny Garcia, the 2000 world champion and six-time Triple Crown winner. Garcia's single-wave score of 9.50 and heat score of 15.00 were both best of the event.

Kamalei Alexander (9.00) of Kauai was third, and Tahiti's Alain Riou (5.43) fourth.

''I got lucky and I got the waves,'' Garcia said. ''The other guys surfed just as good, but I got that one nine in the beginning and it kind of makes all the difference in the world.''

Barger had a score of 7.50, finishing behind Nathan Carroll (12.93) of Oahu and Australia's Nathan Hedge (12.74) and Mark Mathews (9.17).

Larsen will face Solomon Ortiz of the Big Island, Basque surfer Aritz Aranburu and Australia's Leigh Sedley in the round of 96, which could begin Sunday if conditions permit.

Ola Eleogram of Hana won his round-of-128 heat on Friday, and is in a second-round heat with Brazil's Bernardo Miranda, Australia's Josh Kerr and France's Romain Cloitre.

Eleogram had a single wave worth 7.83 points, tied for fifth-best in the competition, and his heat score of 11.90 is eighth-best.

Lahaina's Dusty Payne, who last year was second in the Triple Crown standings, received a bye to the round of 64 and will be in a heat with Australia's Tom Whitaker, as well as the winner of a heat comprising three-time world champion Andy Irons of Kauai, California's Eric Geiselman, Brazil's Marco Polo and Uruguay's Marco Giorgi, and the second-place finisher in a heat with Shane Beschen, the runner-up in the 2006 world tour, as well as Brad Ettinger of California, Australia's Chris Davidson and South Africa's Royden Bryson.