Gracetown’s Bronte Macaulay suffers semifinal loss at Margaret River Pro to world champion Caitlin Simmers

A dream run through the Margaret River Pro for local wildcard Bronte Macaulay came to an end with a loss to Caitlin Simmers in their semifinal on Tuesday. Despite bringing a standout competitive career to an end and turning her hand to coaching last year, the Gracetown local earned a shock late call-up for the event, which she justified by making it through to the semifinals for the fourth time. But the reigning world champion proved too good in their final-four clash, producing a two-wave total score of 14.00, which Macaulay could only match with a 9.34. After some cagey opening exchanges in what was the first heat of the day, Simmers registered the first score of note in the semifinal, being rewarded for a smooth ride with a 7.17. The American then backed up with an effort featuring some sharper turns to earn a 6.83, leaving Macaulay behind by 14.00 and needing to pull off a pair of strong scores to have any hope of winning. Macaulay cut the deficit back with a 6.17 but that proved to be the last wave surfed in the heat as the swell went flat, before she received a hero’s welcome back on the beach where many of her students were in attendance. Earlier, Macaulay had sailed straight through to the round-of-16 by emerging on top of an opening round heat which included Simmers. After a wait of more than a week as the event was put on hold, she then beat American Caroline Marks and Australian Molly Picklum on Monday to progress through to finals day. Macaulay was one of two locals competing in the women’s draw, alongside WA trials winner Willow Hardy, a Margaret River surfer who exited in the elimination round. World No.1 Gabriela Bryan went on to defeat Simmers in the final, relishing the big stage in producing the highest two-wave total of the tournament — a 17.33 which included an opening effort deemed a 9.50 marked by a series of trademark powerful carves. The score from her first wave was the Hawaiian’s best ever on tour, which she said she did not realise until she was back on dry land. “That was just a beautiful wave, I had an insane line and I just gave it everything I’ve got because that was what I’ve had to do to win this final,” Bryan said. Bryan’s run to the final included a round-of-16 victory over Sally Fitzgibbons, which condemned the Australian legend to miss the mid-season cut for the third consecutive year. A 15th-placed finish for Fitzgibbons saw her fall agonisingly short of a spot inside the top 14 which would have locked away her place on next season’s Championship Tour, which will do away with the controversial cut under a revised and expanded format. Queenslander Isabella Nichols finished as the women’s winner of the Aussie Treble as the best performed surfer over the competition’s three-event Australian leg. The world No.4 won the Bells Beach Pro before exiting in the quarterfinals of both the Gold Coast Pro and in Margaret River.