The Championship Tour’s return to Bells saw the iconic break dish up day after day of perfect, rolling right handers, with Filipe Toledo and Tyler Wright running out victorious at the conclusion of the event. The powerful, long period waves are set to continue over the next week as we head to Margaret River, a location where the raw energy of the Indian Ocean meets the Western Australian coastline and produces some of the best waves in the country. And with the inaugural mid-season cut set to take place at the conclusion of this event – a cut which will see just 22 men and 10 women left on the Tour for the back half of the season – there won’t be a single athlete paddling out without something significant to surf for. These are the surfers to look out for on the women’s side of the draw.
The Favourites
Death, taxes, and Carissa Moore making the final four at any given CT event might be the only three certainties in life. She was a finalist once again at Bells Beach, and though she fell short against Tyler Wright, the result was enough to see her jump into first place on the world rankings. She’ll paddle out in the yellow jersey at Margaret River, a venue where she has been as difficult to beat as anyone in the world over the past few years. After winning it in 2013 and 2014, Moore finished second in 2015, and has finished third four times since. Her worst result here in eight appearances is a fifth place finish, and given that she has only missed the semi-finals at any event once in about four years, it’s hard to imagine she won’t be there once again this year.
Moore is the deserved favourite to win this event and the world title, but the woman who is looking increasingly likely to cause her the most grief as she attempts to do so is Tyler Wright. The 2016 and 2017 world champion has had a rough few years of surfing for various reasons, but has been gradually showing signs that she is on the road back to her best. Never was that more evident than at Bells last weekend. She made her way through to the final against Moore and dominated from the outset, laying down a couple of huge scores en route to a comprehensive win. She now sits in a tie for second in the world rankings heading into one of her favourite events on Tour; she finished fifth here last year, but in her five appearances prior to that at Margaret River she made the final in four of them. It would be no surprise to see her do that again this year.
The Next Tier
There’s a little bit of daylight following Moore and Wright for favouritism, but there are plenty of athletes eager to knock them off their proverbial thrones; one of the most likely of whom is Tatiana Weston-Webb. After falling agonisingly short of a maiden world title last year, Weston-Webb has been disappointing in three of the four events this year, but the only one in which she made it past the Round of 16 she won. She also happens to love surfing at Margaret River. Last year, she beat Steph Gilmore in a high-scoring final, while at the previous incarnation of the event she finished second. Her lack of consistency so far this season is certainly an issue, but Weston-Webb can beat anyone on her day, and her penchant for this break should hold her in good stead.
Gilmore, as mentioned, finished second here last year, and is another who has the ability to do some damage at this event. This is actually one of the few events which the seven-time world champ has never actually won, but she’s gone pretty close a number of times, finishing third on three occasions, fifth twice, and of course second last year. The 34-year-old had a bad start to the season in Hawaii and was sitting well below the cut line two events in, but a third in Portugal and a fifth at Bells have seen her jump up to eighth place. She’s still sitting perilously close to that cut line and a bad performance here has the potential to see her tumbling off the Tour for the rest of the year, but Gilmore is no stranger to pressure and is more likely to be there at the business end of the event than knocked out early.
Lakey Peterson is another former winner at this event, having taken home the chocolates when she beat Weston-Webb in the 2019 final. She hasn’t surfed here since then, having been injured last year, while she also missed the 2016 edition of the event and in 2018 it was moved to Indonesia, meaning her recent experience at the break is relatively minimal. Nonetheless, having won last time she competed in this event she clearly has the ability to surf this wave to a high level, and she also enters the contest in solid form. She suffered an earlier exit than she would have liked at Bells, being knocked out in the Round of 16, but she made the semis in two of the three events this season prior to that. Her form line this season reads like a roller coaster – third, ninth, second, ninth – which isn’t exactly ideal, but she’ll be hoping that it continues for at least one more event.
Our final member of the chasing pack is Courtney Conlogue, who has gradually been able to wrestle herself above the cut line in a season which has seen her improve her results every event. A 17th place finish in the first contest of the season was followed by a ninth, a fifth and then a third at Bells, and like Peterson she’ll be hoping her current trend continues and sees her make her way into a Margaret River Pro final. She certainly has the requisite form here to do so, having won the event back in 2015 and finished runner-up in 2016, and though she finished a disappointing 17th here last season, her form this season is trending in a very clear direction. Like Gilmore, a poor result here could still see her fall on the wrong side of the mid-season cut line, so she enters the contest with plenty of weight on her shoulders, but don’t be surprised to see her overcome that and go close to winning.
The Roughie
Bronte Macauley has plenty of experience in Western Australian waters – and particularly those around Margaret River – having grown up just a few miles north of the main break. Last year, she demonstrated exactly that when she made her way through to just the second semi-final of her career at this contest. Local knowledge is in her favour, but so too is her form; having been called up to the last three events as an injury replacement, she put in her best performance of the year at Bells. She well and truly held her own in a difficult Opening Round heat against Weston-Webb and Sally Fitzgibbons, knocked out Weston-Webb in the Round of 16 with a 15.66 heat total, before being defeated by a rampaging Tyler Wright who went on to win the event. Macauley needs a big result to make the mid-season cut, but having looked dangerous at Bells and knowing exactly what it takes to surf well at her home break, she is a legitimate hope of springing a major surprise and booking a spot in the second half of the Championship Tour season.
Our Tip
There are two clear standout favourites heading into the Margaret River Pro, but there are plenty of others more than capable of winning. It’s difficult to go past either Moore or Wright, but the woman perhaps most likely to knock them both off their perch is Weston-Webb. Her inconsistency might not be ideal in terms of points accumulation throughout the course of the year, but the quality of her best surfing makes her a threat at most contests, and none more so than at Margaret River. Weston-Webb has a first and a second in her last two appearances here, and is a great chance of adding another win at this year’s event.
