Parkinson wins third surf tourney of year

JEFFREYS BAY, South Africa, July 15 (UPI) -- Australia's Joel Parkinson defeated American Damien Hobgood in Wednesday's finals of the Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay surfing contest in South Africa.

Parkinson scored a near-perfect 9.47 points on his opening wave and breezed past Hobgood by a score of 15.97 to 11.94.

The win was Parkinson's third in five Association of Surfing Professionals events this season and bolstered his lead in the ASP points race over Damien Hobgoood's twin brother, C.J., to 1,404 points. C.J. Hobgood finished ninth Wednesday.

Conditions at Jeffreys Bay were great with a clean 3-foot to 5-foot break. However, Parkinson said there was a sense of urgency to put the contest away as quickly as possible.

"I knew the waves were dying down towards the end of the day and it was going to be important to get on the board early in Final," Parkinson said.

The ASP Tour next moves to Southern California for the Hurley Pro Trestles in mid-September.