CJ Hobgood was the man of the match in the second day of competition at the Billabong Rio Pro, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The North American surfer scored the highest heat-total of the entire event, 16.50 out of 20, in the clean two-to-four foot (1 metre) lefthanders of the Arpoador surf spot.

"That’s what makes those heats fun to surf and it’s exciting to watch," Hobgood said. "I have so much respect for Julian (Wilson) because these kids can come back so easily no matter what scores they need. I had a good start and had to be comfortable with my performance win or lose. It was exciting and I’m stoked to make it, I have so much fun surfing against these guys."

Joel Parkinson, another big hitter, was right when he adopted the strategy of waiting for the outside set waves and matched the day’s highest single-wave score of a 9 out of 10 for powerful backhand surfing to eventually eliminate fellow countryman Kai Otton.