Willcox survives elimination to set up world No.1 test
Local qualifier Jacob Willcox has fought through tricky conditions and a bout of illness to advance out of the Margaret River Pro elimination round and into a match-up against world No.1 Italo Ferreira.
Willcox, who grew up surfing Main Break, had to draw on all of his experience to navigate lumpy 8-10ft conditions on Tuesday, posting a two-wave score of 11.03 to edge out Barron Mamiya of Hawaii (9.24) and fellow Australian Ryan Callinan (8.20) in the first heat of the day.
The 27-year-old was a World Surf League championship tour rookie in 2024 but failed to re-qualify for this season after missing the mid-season cut. He took out the local trials last week to win a place in this year's Pro.
'That was just like a washing machine out there,' Willcox said after his heat win.
'I feel like I've watched a lot of heats out here, especially when it was a QS (qualifying series event) back in the day, and it was always big and rouge just like this. I was stoked just to get a few waves because I've been sick as a dog the past few days and that was my first surf since my last heat. It was good just to get back in the water.'
The round-of-32 match-up with former world champion Ferreira comes after the Brazilian powerhouse dominated a three-cornered opening round heat on Saturday that also included Australian CT rookie George Pittar.
Willcox, who was only able to put up two scores of 2.50 for a 5.00 total in that heat to Ferreira's 14.10 and Pittar's 10.33, said he had made adjustments that would hopefully help him take it up to the men's ranking leader.
'I had such a shocker that first day, I rode the wrong board and couldn't even get off the bottom so it felt good just to get out there on the right board and do a turn,' he said.
'It's going to be fun, I feel like the heat the other day (with Ferreira) I couldn't really even compete but this is fun conditions. He is one of my favourite surfers so it's going to be good to have a battle against him.
'I think it's about trying to find the best waves, whoever gets the best waves today will probably get through, it's just hard to find them.'
Callinan's exit sees him anchored in 33rd place in the rankings and resigned to missing this year's cut.
The goofy-footer had to withdraw from the event in Portugal due to injury and skipped the recent Gold Coast Pro for the birth of his first child, meaning he missed out on two point-scoring opportunities.
In other results, Aussie wild-cards Winter Vincent and Mikey McDonagh advanced out of the elimination round along with Mamiya, Imaikalani deVault and Ian Gentil of Hawaii and Crosby Colapinto and Edgard Groggia of Brazil.
Dievid Silva of Brazil, who was eliminated alongside Callinan will also miss the cut, while Seth Moniz of Hawaii and Alejo Muniz of Brazil are currently inside the cut-line but face a nervous wait.
Watch the WSL Margaret River Pro live and free on 7PLUS
HEAT 1: Jacob Willcox AUS 11.03 (5.70, 5.33), Barron Mamiya HAW 9.24 (5.17, 4.07), Ryan Callinan AUS 8.20 (4.43, 3.77)HEAT 2: Imaikalani deVault HAW 12.50 (6.33, 6.17), Winter Vincent AUS 11.64 (6.27, 5.37), Seth Moniz HAW 7.76 (4.43, 3.33)HEAT 3: Ian Gentil HAW 14.33 (7.50, 6.83), Mikey McDonagh AUS 10.90 (5.57, 5.33), Alejo Muniz BRA 8.37 (4.37, 4.00)HEAT 4: Crosby Colapinto USA 10.00 (5.50, 4.50), Edgard Groggia BRA 9.50 (6.17, 3.33), Deivid Silva BRA 8.93 (4.93, 4.00)
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