Kelly Slater: “Mick with the Hardest Draw”

According to Kelly Slater’s round three picks, Mick Fanning will have the hardest heat draw of the title contenders, when he faces Jamie O’Brien after the Pipe Masters resumes. KS suggests that Mick will be hoping it’s Backdoor. Because if Mick loses this round, it could be all kinds of bad for his world title hopes. Though, Filipe must get past trials runner up Mason Ho. Either way, the suspense is killer. There’s a very good chance this’ll all unfold tomorrow.

Round three match-ups: 
Heat 1: Gabriel Medina vs. Jordy Smith
Heat 2: Bede Durbidge vs. Keanu Asing

Heat 3: Italo Ferreira vs. C.J. Hobgood
Heat 4: Kelly Slater vs. Michel Bourez
Heat 5: Mick Fanning vs. Jamie O’Brien

Heat 6: John John Florence vs. Taj Burrow
Heat 7: Filipe Toledo vs. Mason Ho
Heat 8: Joel Parkinson vs. Kai Otton

Heat 9: Jeremy Flores vs. Sebastian Zeitz

Heat 10: Julian Wilson vs. Adam Melling
Heat 11: Josh Kerr vs. Adrian Buchan
Heat 12: Adriano De Souza vs. Glenn Hall

Mick keeping it dialled on a lay day. Photo: WSL/Cestari