9 July 2008 Golf Day raises R150 000

Billabong Pro Jeffreys Bay
Stop No. 5 of 11 on the 2008 ASP World Tour
Supertubes, Jeffreys Bay
July 10–20, 2008

 Billabong Pro Golf Day raises over R150 000 for Supertubes Foundation

 JEFFREYS BAY (Wednesday, July 9, 2008) – The fund-raising golf day staged at the Jack Nicklaus St Francis Links on Tuesday in the lead up to the annual R2.4 million Billabong Pro surfing event at Jeffreys Bay raised in excess of R150 000 for the non-profit Supertubes Foundation.
 Featuring a dozen of the world’s best surfers in corporate four-balls and an auction of surfing memorabilia, the event was the brain-child of Billabong South Africa CEO Ernest Bendeman with the dual objectives of making the ASP World Tour superstars more accessible to a broad range of South Africans while simultaneously accumulating funds for worthy causes.
 “The inaugural Billabong Pro Golf Day was a great success and exceeded our objectives,” Bendeman said. “The golf and the auction raised more than double what we had anticipated and was a fun day for all involved. It will contribute substantially to the running costs of the Supertubes Foundation that does such good work in enhancing the beaches of Jeffreys Bay where Billabong South Africa’s headquarters are based.”
 The function also honoured surfing icon Marc Occhilupo, the 1984 Billabong Pro champion and 1999 ASP World Champion, who retired at the end of 2007 and will be competing for one of the three wildcards at stake in the VonZipper Wildcard Trials which precede the main event
 After a round of golf on the testing Jack Nicklaus designed course at St Francis Bay the participants were treated to dinner and then an offbeat auction conducted by radio DJ Kevin Fine who managed to extract great prices for the various lots that included surfboards from Occhilupo, current World No. 2 ranked surfer Joel Parkinson and Hawaiian brothers Andy and Bruce Irons.
 There were also huge vinyl prints of the outstanding paintings created by Californian artist Phil Roberts for the four Billabong sponsored ASP World Tour events at Pipeline in Hawaii, Teahupoo in Tahiti, Mundaka in Spain and naturally Jeffreys Bay in South Africa. The four works of art attracted bids totaling over R40 000.
 Go to www.billabongpro.com and visit the Backstage section for further information on the story of how the works of art were created.
 After the success of the inaugural Billabong Pro Golf Day the event looks likely to become an annual feature on the South African sporting calendar.
 About Supertubes Foundation
The mission of the Supertubes Foundation is to rescue endemic and endangered plants from sites being developed, to beautify Jeffreys Bay with rescued plants and to protect the coastal dune area, upgrade beach access and boardwalks as well as to co-ordinate beach cleanups.
Supertubes Foundation is a joint venture between three local surfing clubs which is entirely funded by donations and fundraising through projects initiated by the members and employees of the Foundation. The Foundation has made visual improvements in the Jeffreys Bay area since its inception in 2002.
More on the Foundation can be found at www.supertubesfoundation.com
  Issued on behalf of:
 Billabong South Africa
Contact:            Peter Nicholson
Telephone:        +27 (0) 42 200 2600
Email:               peter.nicholson@billabong.co.za
 Compiled and issued by:
 Life's a Beach Communications
PO Box 48272, Kommetjie 7976, South Africa
Tel:              +27 (0) 21 783 4965
Fax:             +27 (0) 86 684 6250
Mobile:         +27 (0) 82 423 1964
Email:           lifesabeach@mweb.co.za