Kolohe Andino all smiles at Lowers. Photo: Patrick Hourihan
17-year-old Kolohe Andino is now nearly certain to be headed to the ASP World Tour in 2012 after his third straight six-star win at the Fantastic Noodles Kangaroo Island Pro in Australia. And he’s hungry for the chance, reported the ASP. “It feels kind of surreal right now,” said Andino. “Hopefully I can make the ASP World Title Series for next year, now I’m just competitive and want to win. I knew there was a lot of opportunity for me to do well here and I’m happy it went my way. With guys like Gabriel Medina winning events on tour, I just really want to get there. After he won that last event I just thought that I have to be on there too.”
With his most recent win, Kolohe netted a $30,000 check, but it’s the 3,500 points added to his total toward World Tour qualification that’s significant. He now has 24,245 points after garnering 5 wins this season, which puts him in 24th place on the One World ranking.
However, that’s only 605 points above #25 Jadson Andre and the points will keep shifting with the upcoming Hawaii leg, the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing, fast approaching. First, the 6-star – the Reef Hawaiian Pro held Nov. 12-23 with up to 3,500 points up for grabs, then the Prime event – the Van’s World Cup of Surfing held Nov. 25 – Dec. 6 with 6,500 points on the line; both events Kolohe is scheduled to surf. Finally, there’s the WT Event – the Billabong Pipe Masters held Dec. 8-20 with 10,000 points available to win.
With plenty of points up for grabs, and the points differential between Kolohe who is now #24 and #35 William Cardoso only 4,455 points, there is still a chance Brother could be bounced from tour if guys on the bubble – like Taylor Knox at # 20, with a significant quarterfinals result at Pipe from last about to drop from his points total – go big on the North Shore. “Guys could blow up, anything could go wrong,” said Kolohe in an interview with STAB magazine. “It can happen, it’s the ocean you’re dealing with. But I’m stoked with where I’m at right now.”
ESPN surf writer Jake Howard recently compared Kolohe Andino’s impending ASP qualification to Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett entering the NBA as young, talented and hungry teenagers with Kelly Slater playing the role of a soon-to-retire, but still-dominating Michael Jordan. Says Jake, “If the progressive revolution started with Slater’s generation in the early ’90s, this next crop of talent is going to push the barriers further still.” And that’s hard to argue against, especially after witnessing 17-year-old Gabriel Medina beating Kelly in the semi-final at Ocean Beach and, of course, his Finals win over Slater in France – the pairs two biggest match-ups to date.
Kolohe has also proved he can surf against the world’s best – remember his quarterfinals win over Dane Reynolds at the U.S. Open in July, only one heat shy of facing Slater in the Final? The kid can surf, now all he has to do is prove it on our sport’s biggest stage.
The Reef Hawaiian Pro waiting period is only days away, check triplecrownofsurfing.com for news, upcoming heat draws and the live webcast.
