They may be buddies – but when there’s $50,000 on the line, friendships go out the door.

Carissa Moore, of Hawaii, dominated during the women’s final of the U.S. Open of Surfing and took the  2010 title, along with a record prize purse after winning against Australian Sally Fitzgibbons, who is ranked second in the world.

SEE PHOTO SLIDESHOW FROM THE DAY HERE

Moore, 18, put an early scores on the board while Fitzgibbons struggled to get into any waves, not able to earn any points even 10-minutes into the 30-minute heat. The conditions were tough by late afternoon, with winds kicking up and chopping up the water.

“It was a little frustrating out there, I would have loved to perform a little more out there and I know Sally would have as well. Sometimes that’s just how it goes, and you have to figure out how to deal with Mother Nature,” she said.

As the seconds ticked down on the clock, Moore stayed just strokes away from her competition to keep Fitzgibbons off of waves and to keep her from scoring. Then as the biggest set of the heat came in, she dropped into a solid wave, hit the top, took it to the pier and earned a score of 7.67 – sealing the deal on her win.

Moore said she didn’t have any nerves, the hard work had been done.

“Sally is a fierce competitor … it was cool to have a match up against her,” Moore said.

Fitzgibbons earned the second place prize of $15,000.

“It’s really good for women’s surfing to see prize money like this,” she said.

The big women’s prize purse is the largest in the history of the sport for women’s competition, toppling the previous record of $20,000.

“This event is made possible by the athletes, first and foremost,” said Bob Hurley, creator of surfwear company Hurley. “The upgraded prize money through Nike is a result of the performance in the water. These girls earned it. That was some of the best surfing I’ve ever seen, they do things on a wave most men only wish they could do.”

Sage Erickson, a Ventura surfer who also lives on the North Shore, won the Junior Women’s event after scoring a 9.33 total heat score in a final against Laura Enever, Malia Manuel and Coco Ho. Erickson earned a check for $2,500.

Brett Simpson, of Huntington Beach, won the Men’s main event for the second year in a row on Sunday. Read more about that here.

But he won,  Simpson on Saturday went up against Dane Reynolds and was feeling a good rhythm, while Reynolds couldn’t seem to land the big airs he was pulling, looking squirrely on his board.
Simpo got on a solid wave, doing two solid turns then pulling a front-side punt for a score of 9.37, backing up an already comfortable score of 7.77.
Simpson said he’s noticed the judges rewarding the traditional styles, the power turns and the classic moves, so he was doing both styles – power turns on the outside, and punting once he pulled into the inside.
“The high performance stuff is there, but it’s all about how you execute it with speed, power and flow,” Simpson said.
Simpson will go up against Nathanial Curran, a good friend who he was matched up with in the quarter-finals last year.
“It’s a little re-match,” he said.
Curran took San Clemente surfer Patrick Gudauskas out earlier in the morning, in a tough heat that had big lulls between waves. Gudauskas couldn’t seem to get a solid score on the board.
Jordy Smith took out young Brazilian Gabriel Medina earlier this morning, but Miguel Pupo continued the Brazilian presence after taking out Bede Durbidge.
Jadson Andre cracked board in the middle of his heat, and still won against Nic Muscroft of Australia.
“I’m not really  happy because I broke my best board,” he said. “I don’t know what is going to happen. I’m going to charge this one, we’ll see what happens.”
Mick Fanning took out former U.S. Open of Surfing champ Cory Lopez.
“I knew I had to put the pressure on early,” Fanning said.
The heat started slow for Adriano de Souza and Granger Larsen, with no waves coming in for 15 minutes – causing a restart to the heat.
But by the end of the heat, it was all action – with Larsen taking a last-second wave to take the lead.
Nine-time world champ Kelly Slater – no surprise – also advanced.
The Junior Pros saw San Clemete surfers and friends Kolohe Andino and Ian Crane go up against each other in the semi-finals. The same heat had Florida’s Evan Geiselman – who is leading the Pro Junior rankings – going up against Cooper Chapman.
Andino got an interference after batting a wave with Geiselman. But even though he had points knocked off, the San Clemente surfer still made it through to the finals, after coming behind Geiselman at the end of the heat.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE WILD SIDE OF THE U.S. OPEN

CATCH UP ON THE ACTION:

Overwhelmed by the U.S. Open of Surfing? Check out our guide that breaks down the basics here.

SLIDESHOWS and LIVE COVERAGE:

• Day 1: Check out scene and some of the early surf shots

• Day 2: Check out juniors heat up and how insane the crowds got

• Day 3: U.S Champ Conlogue taken out

• Day 4: O.C surfers struggle first day of men’s heat; and Cold War Kids and crowds

• Day 5: See which big names in surfing show up
• Day 6: Surfers take to the air; OC had mixed results
• Day 7: Which OC surfers remain in Men’s and Juniors?

A few other feature stories through the week:

See what O.C.’s World Tour surfers say they miss most when away from home, and read their thoughts on U.S. Open of Surfing.

Don’t miss this Q & A with Bob Hurley on his thoughts of this year’s contest

Check out a story on announcer Rockin’ Fig, honored at the Surfing Walk of Fame. Also don’t miss this feature story on Ian Cairns. Here’s a write up about the Surfers’ Hall of Fame and OC Surfer of the Year.

Meanwhile, while all the big-name surfers are in town, they gave huge at the Pipeline to a Cure event – $450,000 to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

If you’re around, cruise north up PCH to visit the Motel No Tell – there’s a ton happening at the Nike 6.0 transformed motel, take a photo tour here. Also related to U.S. Open of Surfing – check out the Agenda tradeshow, which brought boutiques and big name brands that mixed surf, skate and art.

Save this link as your favorites and follow the U.S. Open through the week:

Enter your photos from the U.S. Open of Surfing for a chance to win a new Timmy Patterson surfboard. Log in at orangecounty.com/photo, set up a  profile and put in your snaps from the week. After the contest ends,  a team of judges will pick their favorites.

If you are planning on coming down, here’s a quick schedule of happenings this weekend:

SATURDAY

Surf: 7 a.m. – 3:57 p.m. Men’s, Women’s, Juniors

BMX: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Skate: 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Music: 4:30 – 6:30 p.m. Weezer preceded by Hot Hot Heat

SUNDAY

Surf: 8 – 12: 30 p.m. Junior and Men’s finals

1 p.m. – 2 p.m. BMX Pro Finals

Skate: 3 p.m. – 4 p.m. Finals and best trick

If you can’t make it down, watch it live at usopenofsurfing.com.

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