The future of the men’s Championship Tour is beginning to become a bit clearer as some present-day stars are announcing they will soon be part of its past.
Joel Parkinson, the 2012 world champion, announced that he will be calling it a career after December’s Pipe Masters event. Parkinson, who is also a four-time CT runner-up, has had a few high-profile and high-caliber rivalries throughout his career. Maybe none more compelling than with his countryman and childhood surf mate, Mick Fanning, who has also called it a career in 2018.
It’s been a short while since Parko was battling for world titles with Fanning and Kelly Slater, but he’s finished in the top 10 each of the past two seasons and he’s remained a finals day regular, pushing many of the young guns to their apex in order to knock him out.
It’s those of the next generation who Parkinson, 37, intends to continue keeping an eye on once he hangs up his jersey for good.
“I really want to watch everybody,” he told WSL. “The talent on tour now is so amazing and I am glad I am leaving it in that way. It is one of those things where I will always be a surf fan and I’ll always watch it, but competing just isn’t there for me anymore.”
While Parko is making this season his curtain call, Slater also announced this week that he intends to gear up for one final complete season in 2019 before moving into the next phase of his life.
Slater, 46, has been dealing with injuries over the past calendar year and has been biding his time, hoping to come back at full strength and in top form. He made his 2018 debut this week at the Corona Open J-Bay but was eliminated in round two by Jordy Smith.
His announcement seems to end much of the guesswork that has been ongoing for almost this entire decade. Slater’s unparalleled career has clearly been in its final stage for some time, but his best days are still just about as good as anyone’s, making it more and more difficult to accept that it is coming to an end.
The 11-time world champ finished seventh on tour in 2016, including a win at Teahupoo and a semifinal at the Pipe Masters. So when he’s been out there, he’s still been knocking off many of the world’s greatest competitors 20 years his junior.
His epic battles with John John Florence, most notably their semifinal matchup at Teahupoo in 2014, have been the proverbial passing of the torch. Hopefully we’ll get at least one more memorable encounter between the two between now and next season’s finale. Each has had injury-plagued 2018 campaigns so some healing will be necessary for another classic to stash away in the vault of surfing lore.
Both Parko and Slater are part of the class that turned surfing into a much more accessible and global enterprise. They, along with the likes of Fanning and Andy Irons, helped usher in an era of power, progression and competitive spirit that helped shape what the Championship Tour has become today. For a long time, Parkinson was considered the close-but-no-cigar candidate of the group until he finally broke through six years ago. Now, he’s decided that the next class is ready to write its own chapter in the tour’s legacy novel, with Slater following not far behind.
They are leaving this community in good hands and have each achieved legendary status. There will surely be no shortage of appreciation for both as they make their final rounds and that appreciation has been well deserved.
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David Simon can be reached at dsimon@thegardenisland.com.
