Royden Bryson the Silent Assasin at the US Open of Surfing

Royden going about his business at HB (Photo: ASP)

It has been a good month for South African surfing. Jordy Smith made the Semis at the Mr Price and then backed that up with a second victory in 2 years at the Billabong. Much of the talk though has been who else is going to do well for SA in the waters of the ASP World Tour. Most of the chatter has centered around the names of young guys like Shaun Joubert and Chad du Toit, the super groms dominating in the Junior contests and starting to attack the tour.

But, it is another man who is stepping up to the plate at the richest contest in professional surfing, a man who normally steers away from the limelight and the circus that is professional surfing in California. Royden Bryson has worked like a silent assassin through the rounds at this years contest to earn himself a Quarter Final Berth. No song and dance, just head down and win heats. In fact, today, after making the Quarters, was the first time I was able to find a photo of the man in action and he has won all his heats. Says a lot when you notice the hubbub going on over some of the US surfers like Kohole Andino. I will guarantee the rest of the field know that Royden is around. He has made his presence felt over the years, both on the CT and the QS. They all know what the little pocket rocket from SA can do. In the small bowling beach break of Huttington Beach it would take a brave man not to put some bills on the explosive goofy footer pulling off the biggest victory of his career.

Live Broadcast starts this evening - US Open of Surfing

So keep an eye out and watch the live broadcast tonight - we might well have to start blowing some Vuvulezas at volume! Make us proud Roy!

(Notice the absence of Roy in the highlights video!)

Asp Press Release:
Thanks to stadium seating, sideline pier access, and jumbo big screens, the south side of the HB pier is the closest thing our sport has to an arena. When the waves are good it’s the best venue in professional surfing and today the waves were going off.

There was no Huntington hopping going on.

Recently the ASP has copped a lot of heat for its decision to bring events to locations with questionable wave quality—and though Huntington has always had that wrap, you’d never know it looking at the ocean today. For two hours Dusty, Dane, Slater, Taj, and Kolohe went absolutely loony. Kelly scored two Nine’s. Taj got a dry tube (below). Kolohe nailed a near perfect 10 for the move of the event—a frontside grab air reverse on a meaty closeout section.

And who won? We all did. Today was good for our sport. Good for the sponsors, fans, and the surfers. Quality waves brought out quality surfing. The spectators were treated to the most high performance action in the history of the US Open and none of the surfers lost. (Round 4 is non-elimination)

Kelly’s in the quarters. Joining him is Dane, Dusty, and Royden Bryson. In Round 5 Evan Geiselman is matched up with Taj and John John comes up against Kolohe.

This thing is setting up for a banger finish this weekend, let’s just hope the waves stick around.—Zander Morton

Nike US Open of Surfing Round of 12 Results:
Heat 1: Dusty Payne (HAW) 17.17, Richard Christie (NZL) 12.63, Evan Geiselman (USA) 9.47
Heat 2: Kelly Slater (USA) 18.77, Taj Burrow (AUS) 14.50, Tanner Gudauskas (USA) 10.00
Heat 3: Dane Reynolds (USA) 16.43, Kolohe Andino (USA) 10.60, Yadin Nicol (AUS) 8.93
Heat 4: Royden Bryson (ZAF) 12.90, Thiago Camarao (BRA) 12.53, John John Florence (HAW) 10.80

Nike US Open of Surfing Round 24 Results:
Heat 7: Kolohe Andino (USA) 14.06 def. Jesse Mendes (BRA) 7.87
Heat 8: Dane Reynolds (USA) 11.17 def. Adam Melling (AUS) 6.77
Heat 9: Yadin Nicol (AUS) 14.33 def. Bede Durbidge (AUS) 11.83
Heat 10: Royden Bryson (ZAF) 11.10 def. Jadson Andre (BRA) 9.84
Heat 11: Thiago Camarao (BRA) 11.17 def. Jeremy Flores (FRA) 10.77
Heat 12: John John Florence (HAW) 15.83 def. Miguel Pupo (BRA) 12.60