Keramas, Bali/Indonesia (Monday, May 4, 2015) - Taj Burrow had to call on all his competitive experience to take a close final at todays World Surf League QS1000 Komune Bali Pro presented by The Mad Hueys to defeat emerging 16-year-old Queensland surfer Ethan Ewing in a high super close final held in high performance 3 to 4 feet surf at Keramas river mouth.

“Such a fun event but that was a serious final with Ethan really pushing me all the way and I really had to try my hardest to take the win” said Burrow in the pool after the final.

“I love it here at the Komune and we’ve scored great waves and had a fun time with some great mates so it’s just been an awesome few days between CT (Championship Tour) events for me and I’m feeling good” said Burrow who headed straight back to Australia and will now head to Brazil for his next major event in a weeks time.

Ewing’s performance was inspiring in the final as he took it to Burrow and outscored him in two consecutive wave exchanges to take a solid early lead.

Ewing opened his scoring with a 7.75 early and Burrow chased that score but came up half a point short with a 7.25.

Shortly after on the next good set both surfers took great waves with Taj posting a long ride and an excellent 8.1 score but was again eclipsed by Ewing who scored an 8.50 to open up a potential winning lead and put pressure on Burrow.

A patient Burrow required an 8.16 and waited until the 8 minute mark to find his final ride, surfed it with power, style and flair and was rewarded with an 8.6 to finally take the lead and eventually the win.

“I knew Taj would find another excellent ride late in the final so I was never over confident about winning” said Ewing.

“It’s been a fantastic event for me and to surf against a competitor like Taj Burrow and be competitive gives me an enormous amount of confidence.”

"I came here to get experience and I feel I really have surfing against these older surfers and I’ll aim to take that experience into my Pro junior events now - the waves have been great and its just been an amazing event.”

Burrow’s best form was in his early Quarterfinal where he scored a perfect 10 for an outstanding barrel ride into combination power turns as he defeated local surfer Komang Promata.

Ethan Ewing also scored consistent 9 point plus rides throughout the morning taking down Stuart Campbell (Great Britain) in the Quarterfinals and in an excellent Semifinal found a late 9.5 final ride to overtake Nic Vasicek in the Semifinals.

The in-pool presentation highlighted the fun atmosphere around this entire event which is regarded by many as one of the most perfect competition set-ups on tour.

“I’d love to see a CT event return here, it’s just an incredible setting for a competition and the wave is so much fun” said Burrow.

Results:

Final: Taj Burrow (AUS) 16.70 Def Ethan Ewing (AUS) 16.25

Semifinal 1: Taj Burrow 16.90 Def Kaito Kino (HAW) 14.70

 Semifinal 2: Ethan Ewing 17.50 Def. Nic Vasicek (AUS) 16.40