ASP World Title Comes Down To 3 Men, 1 Last Event

On Tuesday, Taj Burrow (AUS) won the Coldwater Classic in Santa Cruz, CA, beating out Matt Wilkinson (AUS) to take home his second win of the season and move to sixth place in the WCT standings.  

But let's get real—when you consider the tour as a whole, the Coldwater wasn't exactly...exciting. In fact, ESPN bluntly (and aptly) just called it "weird." And that's because, in the second-to-last event of the year, of the four men vying for the championship, only Joel Parkinson even made it to the quarterfinals. Kelly Slater got knocked out in round five, and both John John Florence and Mick Fanning biffed it before round three. Again, weird.

But what does that mean as the tour heads to the final, Billabong Pipeline Masters on Hawaii's North Shore?

Turns out, mathematically, John John's poor showing has knocked him out of the running for the title completely, leaving Joel Parkinson (AUS, currently in first), Kelly Slater (USA, currently in second) and Mick Fanning (AUS, currently in third) to duke it out.

So that no one is left searching for a calculator when the results finally come in, the ASP has put together the ultimate blow-by-blow guide to the Pipeline results. Which goes like this:

If Parkinson finishes 13th, 9th or 5th at the Billabong Pipe Masters:
- Slater needs a 5th or higher to take the 2012 ASP World Title.
- Fanning needs to win at Pipeline to take the 2012 ASP World Title.*
*Contingent upon Slater finishing 5th or Lower at Pipeline.

If Parkinson finishes Equal 3rd (that is, he's eliminated during the semi-finals) at the Billabong Pipe Masters:
- Slater needs a 3rd or higher to take the 2012 ASP World Title.
- Fanning needs to win at Pipeline to take the 2012 ASP World Title.*
*Contingent upon Slater finishing 5th or Lower at Pipeline.

If Parkinson finishes 2nd at the Billabong Pipe Masters:
- Slater needs to win at Pipeline to take the 2012 ASP World Title.
- Fanning cannot win the 2012 ASP World Title.

The Pipe Masters kicks off on December 8—and with so much riding on one event, we can be nearly certain these guys will, at last, bring the heat.