Max Marsden dominates the Sunshine Surf Masters to take out men’s open final

The 46th annual Sunshine Surf Masters event has come to a close as surfers battled it out for the opportunity for wildcard entry into next year’s Margaret River Pro.

While the sun was once again out in picturesque conditions the surf was tough with smaller swells than yesterday and waves breaking early and inconsistently making for tougher conditions.

It was difficult for competitors to find ideal waves to drop in one with many often pulling out of waves and wasting their priority.

Rather than a battle for big scores, it was a day of patience with surfers having to time their moment right to drop in on the right wave with the hopes of generating a half-decent score.

That is, of course, unless you’re Max Marsden, who inside the opening minute of the men’s open final hops on the first wave he sees and rides it out with some big turns to score an 8.0.

The second was just as impressive scoring a 7.0 to leave him streaks ahead in a contest where others were finding it hard just to get in on a wave.

He then sealed his dominance in his third wave getting some big air and delighting the crowd to score an outrageous 9.25, the highest score of the weekend, to end the contest with 15 minutes of surfing still left.

Despite a commanding performance, Marsden said it took a good slice of luck to get the win

“It’s hard to have a game plan out here as it’s always so rippy and washy but I was lucky to get a couple of ones that linked through from out the back,” he said.

“It was a lot tougher today it was a bit smaller and that rip was really bad but was still good fun.”

Marsden was stoked to earn the chance to shine at the Pro.

“I’ll have to start working out or something and start getting a bit ready,” he joked.

“It’s a real good feeling hopefully I can grab a few waves down there and do alright that’d be good.”

There was also a wildcard spot up for grabs in the women’s final which was taken out by youngster Kate McKenzie in a low scoring final.

“It took a while to get anything that was good on the scoreboard but it ended up working out,” she said.

“It’s been really good competition, I’m actually surprised cause Edel (Rodden) usually smashes me.”

McKenzie was excited by the opportunity to test her skills at that next level.

“I’m very happy I’m already going over east in November for the State team it would just be another really good pathway into that next level.”