West Australian goofy-footer Bronte Macaulay struck early with backhand attacks to set up victory in the Surfest women's final against Central Coast's Macy Callaghan at Merewether on Saturday.
The 26-year-old defeated fellow championship tour surfer Callaghan 12.8 to 11.24 to claim the 5000-point qualifying series event.
Callaghan opened with throwaways of 2.5 and 1.63 in the 35-minute final before Macaulay nailed a huge backhand hit for a 6.17. Macaulay quickly found two vertical turns on her backhand again for a 6.0. She went further ahead with 22 minutes to go, linking three hits for a 6.63 to rise to a 12.8 two-wave total.
Callaghan, a two-time pro junior winner at Surfest, was in the hunt after earning a 7.57 from a massive first carve and tail slide in a two-hit wave. She jumped to 10.07 and needed a 5.23.
The regular-footer went to her backhand with three minutes left but fell on her second turn. Her last chance came in the final 40 seconds but the wave flattened out.
Macaulay, the daughter of ex-professional surfer Dave Macaulay, won the Surfest pro junior in 2014 and she was "stoked" to get another victory at Merewether.
"It's just really good to be back here in Newcastle," she said. "I've been coming here since I was nine.
"I actually won my one and only pro junior here when I was 20, six years ago, so since then I was like, 'I love Newcastle'. A decent result this year, so I can't complain."
On Sunday, Macaulay, Callaghan and Merewether's Philippa Anderson are into round three at the 10,000-point Sydney Surf Pro.
The win at Merewether was Macaulay's second on the QS, after her victory at the Los Cabos Open of Surf in 2016.
Callaghan had survived a nail-biter against Frenchwoman Pauline Ado in the semi-finals to win 11.84 to 11.77.
She admitted she was tired after a long day of competition and rued her start in the final.
"I had a terrible start and I knew Bronte was going to put some high scores on the board and she did exactly that," Callaghan said.
Macaulay defeated rising Australian star Zahli Kelly 14.66 to 11.17 in the semis after her own close call in the quarter-finals against Hawaiian Gabriela Bryan 15.67 to 15.0.
