Sophie McCulloch and Cooper Davies Win Australian Open Of Surfing Sunshine Coast Pro

Sunshine Coast, Queensland (Sunday, 20th September 2020) – Sophie McCulloch (Alexandra Headland, QLD) and Cooper Davies (Noosa, QLD) have won the Australian Open Of Surfing Sunshine Coast Pro today, which was held at Coolum Beach in punchy 3-4ft waves. Both have been able to put all their hard work and training to use during this quiet period of competition surfing and take out a cool $1000 each in prize money. Competitors will now head south on the 31st October – 1st November for the Gold Coast Pro.  
 2020 QLD state open male shortboard runner-up Cooper Davies (Noosa, QLD) has gained redemption by taking out the men’s division of the Australian Open of Surfing Sunshine Coast Pro today. Davies defeated Alister Reginato (Alexandra Headland, QLD), Noah Stocca (Peregian Beach, QLD) and Chris Zaffis (Angourie, NSW – currently residing in QLD) respectively. Davies opened the heat with a 6.50 (out of a possible 10.00), and scored another three throwaway waves and seemed to be out of luck – but in the dying minutes of the heat, managed to score an excellent 8.50 for a combined heat total of 15.00 (out of a possible 20.00) to take himself to victory.   

‘That was really exciting, I wasn’t expecting that,” said Davies. “It’s been a long break since we’ve had competitions so it feels awesome to get the rashie back on and get a win. I’m looking forward to the Gold Coast leg now – until then I’ll just be training.”

Heading into the event as the top female seed, and currently ranked in the WSL Qualifying Series (QS) as no. 12, Sophie McCulloch (Alexandra Headland, QLD) has taken out the women’s final in spectacular fashion. McCulloch opened the heat with an excellent 9.83 and managed to back it up with a 7.50 for a combined heat total of 17.33 to defeat Dimity Stoyle (Maroochydore, QLD), Piper Harrison (Coolangatta, QLD) and Tayla Green (Buddina, QLD) respectively. 

“That turned out to be really fun,” said McCulloch. “The paddle-out was pretty intense but lucky enough I was able to get the turns in that I wanted to. I knew the judges were rewarding bigger, more committed turns so I really laid into that first one and managed to get the excellent score to open the heat – I’m stoked.”  

Open Men: 1st: Cooper Davies (Noosa, QLD)2nd: Alister Reginato (Alexandra Headland, QLD)3rd: Noah Stocca (Peregian Beach, QLD)4th: Chris Zaffis (Angourie, NSW)Open Women: 1st: Sophie McCulloch (Alexandra Headland, QLD)2nd: Dimity Stoyle (Maroochydore, QLD)3rd: Piper Harrison (Coolangatta, QLD)4th: Tayla Green (Buddina, QLD)For a detailed list of individual heat scores, click HERE.  2020 Australian Open of Surfing Series Schedule:Sunshine Coast, QLD – 19th – 20th September 2020Gold Coast, QLD – 31st October – 1st November 2020Cronulla, NSW – 8th-9th November 2020Kiama, NSW – 22nd – 23rd November 2020Coffs Harbour, NSW – 29th – 30th November 2020Northern Beaches, NSW – 13th – 14th December 2020 All events will adhere to all COVID-19 policies and regulations outlined by the Queensland Government and council protocols. Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay up to date.The 2020 Australian Open of Surfing series is proudly supported by The Sunshine Coast Council and Visit Sunshine Coast, official destination partners of the event, The Gold Coast City Council, Coastalwatch Plus, Surfing World Magazine, H2Coco, The Queensland Government and Surfing Queensland.