Intro:

Hawaiian Dusty Payne said it was a "dream" to have won the REEF Hawaiian Pro on Saturday (15th November)

Script:

Dusty Payne certainly had to do it the hard way - the Hawaiian battled his way through from Round 1 to win the REEF Hawaiian Pro.

He came up against regular ASP World Tour competitors in the four-man final - Frenchman Jeremy Flores along with Australians Julian Wilson and Adam Melling.

Victory seemed to headed Wilson's way thanks to a combination of airs, vertical snaps and torquing carves in double-overhead waves helped him to a total of 18.74 points.

But Payne had other ideas and in a 90-second spell posted back-to-back near perfect wave scores of 9.87 and 9.77, to give him the first place prize of USD$40,000.

Wilson had to settle for second and a cheque for USD$20,000, with Flores in third and Melling fourth.

The tournament win capped a remarkable turnaround for Payne, who over the last few years had dropped off the World Championship Tour and picked up several injuries.

It's been a long road back, but he's now jumped from 97 on the ASP Qualifying Series to 24th, to put him back in the mix to re-qualify for the ASP World Championship Tour.

The win also saw him take an early lead in the Vans Triple Crown ratings.