2007 O'Neill SA Open of Surfing

Surfing South Africa
Nahoon Reef East London South Africa
27 - 29 April 2007

Devyn Mattheys makes East London proud as he wins the Men's title in the 4A Rated O'Neill SA open of surfing

Surfersvillage Global Surf News, 29 April, 2007 : - -  Devyn Mattheys of East London has won the Men's title in the 4A rated O'Neill SA Open of Surfing which was completed in 6-8 foot surf and perfect weather at Nahoon Reef today (Sunday April 29).

Mattheys used all his local knowledge to convincingly defeat defending champion Matthew Kruger of Durban to earn R12,000, the biggest prizepurse of his career.Not only did he bank a sizeable cheque but he was also awarded 1,300 Surfing South Africa Pro Surf Tour ratings points.

Kruger won R4,800 and earned 1095 ratings points while third placed Frankie Oberholzer of Warner Beach won R3,000 and 1005 ratings points. Granville West of Port Elizabeth banked R2,600 for his fourth place in the final and will add 915 ratings points to his 2007 tally. Rudy Palmboom (Jnr) of the Bluff and Simon Fish of East London were joint fifth with 2005 champion Dylan Stone of Port Elizabeth and Shane Thorne of the Bluff ending joint seventh.

Palmboom then produced a convincing display of big wave surfing in the 3A rated Pro Junior Division final to beat Durban surfer Josh Redman into second place. Third was Brandon Roberts of Sun Valley in cape Town with O'Neill wildcard Wesley Grey of Kommetjie ending fourth. The beaten semi finalists were Tyde Gatke of East London, Nick Molde of Muizenberg, Lungani Memani of Port Alfred and Adam Hansen of Kommetjie.

In the 2A rated Women's final Tammy Lee Smith of Salt Rock produced some of her ASP World Qualifying Series form to beat former World Championship tour campaigner Heather Clark of Port Shepstone into second place while SA Junior team coach Tasha Mentasti of Durban North came third and defending champion Stacey Guy of Melkbosstrand had to settle for fourth place.

The total prizemoney on offer at the SA Open was R55,000 with significant Pro Surf Tour ratings points available to the top surfers in the three divisions. The 4A Rated Men's division of the O'Neill SA Open is the biggest PST contest on the 2007 domestic calendar while the Pro Junior Boys (Under 20)division was a 3A rated event and the Women's division was a 2A rated competition.