Surf

Plowing Onto the Podium: Oakley’s Adam Melling Tramples Big Names at Billabong Pro JBay For Impressive Second Place Finish

World, meet Adam Melling.

The ASP World Tour rookie and head-to-toe Oakley Team Rider ripped his way into the hearts of local South African crowds at the Billabong Pro – Jeffreys Bay last weekend (July 18).

“Who is this guy…and where does he come from?!” asked a super impressed local spectator at the event, where Melling charged hard with smooth, powerful and fast surfing.

His dazzling display and focus saw him stomp on some of the world’s top surfers including Taylor Knox, Luke Monroe, Bobby Martinez, Dusty Payne and Damien Hobgood prior to running up against serious world title contender, Taj Burrow in the semi-finals.

And he was far from intimidated. Melling’s precision surfing, wave selection and style solidly propelled him past Taj and into his first ever World Tour event final. But despite a legit performance against South African phenom Jordy Smith in the final, Melling couldn’t best Jordy’s amazing scores: a 9.03 and an 8.9, giving him a combined winning total of 17.83 out of a possible 20! (Fun fact: Jordy’s favorite shades are Oakley Frog Skins.)

The solid second place finish catapulted Melling to 19th position in the overall Tour – and he’s likely to beat the 32 man cut coming up after the Billabong Pro Tahiti. We’re sure he’ll keep on pushing his way toward the top.

Flashing back: As Melling was rattling the competition, his Oakley teammates were doing a little damage of their own.

Unfortunately, most of O’s other top performers ran up against Jordy, who ended their runs. Brazilian ripper Adriano de Souza caught fire, as he has all year long, and mashed his way into the quarterfinals, where he was taken down by Jordy. He remains at number five in the World Tour standings.

Oakley Eyewear rider Nate Yeomans was on fine form in round 1 winning his heat and was one of the stand out goofy footers in round 1. He was unfortunate to come up against a very on form Jordy Smith in round 3 and went down.

Tom Whittaker was unlucky as the good set waves did not come his way against Tanner Gudauskas in round 2.

Pat Gudauskas lost in round 2 against Ben Dunn in another inconsistent heat. Oakley Africa rider Shaun Joubert was awarded a wild card for the event and although he finished 33rd, he did not disappoint, as he surfed great with big turns and lost to a lightening fast Adriano de Souza in round 2.

All in all, one solid performance for Team Oakley at JBay! With amazing weather/decent conditions, a super pumped crowd, a great Oakley display/autograph signing at a local shop and the grand coming out party for Adam Melling: South Africa was loving Oakley this past week!