11th July

On This Day: Joel Parkinson becomes only the second wildcard in history to win a World Tour event claiming the 1999 Billabong-MSF Pro at J'Bay (Johnny-Boy Gomes was the first, winning the '97 Pipe Masters). Parko was just 18 at the time. Ten years later in 2009 later he bagged the J'Bay title as a Tour surfer.