Sydney Surf Pro at Manly upsets a few fans

He sped down the line, hit the lip and then produced an incredible full air rotation at a critical section of the wave, flying metres in the air, turning 360 degrees and landing the incredible manoeuvre. The hometown crowd screamed their approval as the North Narrabeen surfer raised his arms in triumph.

"Wow, didn't he cover some distance on that one. Jordy's starting to fire up. He's not taking a step back at all. This is going to be a big number," screamed former pro surfer Richie Lovett in commentary.

It was a big number, but not big enough for Lawler to advance. The judges gave him a nine (out of 10) as Lawler again raised his arms - this time in protest - and slapped the water in frustration. "I'm trying to work out whether Jordy's annoyed the score didn't go higher than a nine ... that's what he's got to be annoyed about," Lovett continued.

Too right he was annoyed. It was one of the waves of the contest but not enough to go beyond a nine in the judges' eyes. Seventy per cent of fans watching online gave the heat to Lawler, who was too distressed to talk about the defeat and quickly left the contest site. Surfing, like all subjective sports, is in the hands of judges and competitors learn to take the good with the bad. This one seemed particularly cruel, with just 0.17 points standing between Lawler, who won this contest in 2019, and a quarter-final berth.

Fellow North Narrabeen surfer Dylan Moffatt also bowed out in the round of 16, while Manly's Saxon Reber did himself proud by narrowly failing to advance from his opening round heat. Indonesian Rio Waida won the final in clean conditions on Tuesday afternoon.

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