Error means Slater still has work to do to win
SAN FRANCISCO» The Association of Surfing Professionals says it made a mistake in its tiebreakers when it awarded Kelly Slater his 11th ASP world title Wednesday.
The ASP Tour said Friday that the 39-year-old Slater must win one more heat at the Rip Curl Pro Search San Francisco or the season-ending Pipeline in Hawaii to wrap up the title. If Slater fails to win a heat, Owen Wright must win both events to take the championship.
“Our rankings system is designed to split tiebreaks based off of seed points,” tour manager Renato Hickel said. “Kelly and Owen tied at best nine of 11 results, so we went to best eight of 11 results and the system gave it to Kelly based off his higher seed position. We were operating under that assumption and created the ASP world title scenarios based off of that. This was a mistake. In the end, we’re responsible for this and should be held accountable. We apologize to our fans, the surfers and to Owen and Kelly.”