Your CT Qualifiers For 2023

Stu Nettle picture
Stu Nettle (stunet)
Form Guide

Following the Hawaii Challenger - won by John John Florence and Sophie McCulloch - the 2023 Championship Tour rosters are set.

The Men's qualifiers are:

There are four rookies, though you could argue Liam O'Brien is also a rookie - which would make it five - as despite qualifying last year he didn't surf a heat.

While in the Women's, a do or die effort from Sophie McCulloch - she had to win the event to qualify - put her into the last qualifying position. Coincidentally, after seven CS events, both 3rd and 4th places were tied, as were 5th and 6th places. Sophie McCulloch in 5th won the tiebreak over Teresa Bonvalot in 6th based on total heat wins for the season.

The Women's qualifiers are:

The Women have just two rookies next year: Caitlin Simmers and Sophie McCulloch.

There is some consolation for Teresa Bonvalot as she'll get an automatic start into next year's CS events alongside, Alyssa Spencer, Bronte Macaulay, Nikki Van Dijk, and Vahine Fierro.

In the Men, the next ten surfers after the CT cut get automatic call up to CS events. They are: Dylan Moffat, Morgan Cibilic, Jacob Willcox, Gatien Delahaye, Imaikalani Devault, Eithan Osborne, Lucca Mesinas, Joan Duru, Alejo Muniz, and Edgard Groggia.

Comments

maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 9:31am

Sally Fitz enjoying promoting sheds too much to even try qualifying? Career over?

eel's picture
eel's picture
eel Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 9:44am

Didn't they give her a wildcard for 2023 for some unknown reason even though she didn't deserve it?

maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 9:52am

They did give her a wildcard for G-land even tho she didn't deserve it. Can't remember the other

thermalben's picture
thermalben's picture
thermalben Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 10:25am

May, 2022: "Overnight, the Woz announced that Yago Dora would be rewarded with the 2023 season wildcard, providing entry for the first five events of that year. On the Women's side, Sally Fitzgibbons will receive the 2023 season wildcard."

https://www.swellnet.com/news/swellnet-dispatch/2022/05/11/2022-and-2023...

maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley's picture
maddogmorley Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 10:29am

Thanks Ben - not sure I agree with giving Sal the wildcard 'for sustained effort' but there you go.

mikehunt207's picture
mikehunt207's picture
mikehunt207 Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 10:36am

Sally Fitz ... too big to fail?
Surely there are many more deserving, less set up financially ladies that surf better than Sal
Many.

lost's picture
lost's picture
lost Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 4:07pm

Let’s be honest she got it because her sponsors are the WSL sponsors and it’s looks silly having her in all the ads and off tour. The women’s field is already way too small, to have hand outs is madness. She should have had to qualify through the challenger series. That’s the whole point of the cut and the challenger series.

bbbird's picture
bbbird's picture
bbbird Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 8:46pm
Bustard's picture
Bustard's picture
Bustard Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 6:39am

I just don’t see where these premium positioned companies see the value in having Sally on their books. Steph, yep 8x .. I’ll name my price ( sorta ) … the cheap shed company seems aligned to her achievements

Sal… I can only assume a very effective PR agent…. Or has Steph priced herself out of the market ( because she can ) and they look to the next

Baffles me

bocirl's picture
bocirl's picture
bocirl Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 7:49am

Mate shes hot. That sells a lot of sheds.

Bustard's picture
Bustard's picture
Bustard Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 7:55am

dont see it mate...no doubt a very athletic body but I dont find her attractive...and she talks like shes got a mouth full of marbles

Sandy Stone's picture
Sandy Stone's picture
Sandy Stone Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 10:22am

Looking forward to seeing Rio, Ramzi, MRod, Joao and Liam for the men and Caitlin and Sophie for the women. There's a few more going into the CT than just the usual suspects.

Island Bay's picture
Island Bay's picture
Island Bay Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 10:27am

Check the scores Leo is throwing away. He smashed the CS this year.

suchas's picture
suchas's picture
suchas Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 12:27pm

Anyone know how they work out the financials for a spot on the tour? Disregarding personal sponsorship, do those who qualify survive on the minimum of a first round loss payment and then pay for flights/ accom out of that or are those included by the Wozzle and surfers just pay for sundries like food/car hire etc?

surfer1971's picture
surfer1971's picture
surfer1971 Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 2:39pm

On the tour you pay for everything out of your pocket or what sponsorship / winnings you get from each contest. To do the tour will cost close to 50K if you do it alone and don't travel with a fellow competitor.

burleigh's picture
burleigh's picture
burleigh Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 3:34pm

50k? You must not have traveled recently

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 2:54pm

The Woz pays prizemoney only.

Currently, a last place finisher (33rd) will net $39,000. If they get five last place finishes before getting booted at the cut they'll make $195,000.

EDIT: I read the prizemoney wrong. The whole pool for 33rd - 4 surfers - get $39,000, so each last place finisher gets $9,750.

Not so dreamy.

wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson's picture
wax-on-danielson Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 4:01pm

That would be a dream job. Net $150k after expenses, spending 4 months travelling the world coming last in 5 CT events. If only you could do it without having to qualify.

suchas's picture
suchas's picture
suchas Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 5:21pm

Sure that's correct Stu? According to last year's MR Pro Mens (last before the cut) the pool for 33rd place was $39,000- divided by 4 = $9,750
https://www.worldsurfleague.com/events/2022/ct/5/margaret-river-pro/prizes
This site says(if true) they have a pool of money shared after the winner purse is taken out-
https://thesaltsirens.com/how-much-money-do-surfers-make/
The 2022 MR Pro Men's prize money pool was $542,000-
33rd-39,000 divided by 4
17th- 160,000 divided by 16
9th- 104,000 divided by 8
5th- 64,000 divided by 4
3rd- 50,000 divided by 2
2nd- 45,000
1st- 80,000

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 5:53am

Yep, you're right. I've read it the wrong way. It's $9,750. Big difference.

suchas's picture
suchas's picture
suchas Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 7:31am

Still a long way to go to get to tennis tour status- Oz Open has total prize pool of $75mil au. If you lost in the first round of the singles, doubles and mixed doubles you would walk away with $140k!
https://www.perfect-tennis.com/prize-money/australian-open/

channel-bottom's picture
channel-bottom's picture
channel-bottom Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 4:23pm

Any indication for what those not on the CT get?

The whole thing in the other article about how hard it is to get on to the Challenger Series, let alone qualify for the CT seems like you'd need a pile of funding to go close to making a shot at qualification viable.

stunet's picture
stunet's picture
stunet Monday, 5 Dec 2022 at 4:32pm

Nah, there's nothing in the rulebook, which is where I found the CT prizemoney amounts.

Safe to say it's a lot less than the CT.

Yuri's picture
Yuri's picture
Yuri Tuesday, 6 Dec 2022 at 12:02am

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