World tour debut for Umina surfer

Umina surfer Drew Courtney will make his debut in the Association of Surfing Professional World Tour next year.

Courtney qualified for the prestigious event by finishing in equal 25th position of the World Qualifying Series after the final event in Hawaii on December 5.

He will join fellow NSW surfers Chris Davidson and Phil MacDonald at next year's world surfing tour.

"Courtney has been competing on the World Qualifying Series for 10 years and while being one of the most exciting and dynamic surfers on the planet has not until now been able to turn his raw power and brute force ability into a consistent year of competition," Surfing Australia media manager Mr Steve Robertson said.

"While Davidson, who finished second overall on the WQS ratings, had his 2009 Dream Tour place confirmed earlier in the year after a string of great results saw him in an unbeatable position with a massive 12,825 ratings points, things weren't so sure for MacDonald and Courtney.

"Both MacDonald and Courtney were in the unenviable position of needing to rely on not only their performance in the final event of the year at Sunset Beach, but also had to hope several other surfers on the cusp of qualification did not perform well.

"Fortunately for MacDonald and Courtney, they both achieved a good enough result with MacDonald and Courtney both finishing 25th overall given them 1163 ratings points each.

As part of next year's world tour, Courtney will travel to Tahiti, Brazil, South Africa, USA, France, Spain, Hawaii and the Australian locations at the Gold Coast and Bells Beach.

Press release, 5 Dec 2008 Steve Robertson, Surfing Australia