Babies are more important than barrels.
Taj Burrow has never won a world title. In all likelihood, he won’t this year, either. Taj is electing to skip the Quiksilver Pro France and the Moche Rip Curl Pro Portugal for the greatest reason: the birth of his first child.
In late April, Taj and his girlfriend announced to the world that they were expecting. “Swallowed a watermelon seed 15 weeks ago and were [sic] pretty excited about it @Tajamos,” said Rebecca Jobson on Instagram.
“[It] didn’t really sink in until we got our scans and saw the little nugget kicking around in there,” he told Joe Turpel in an interview. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is really happening!’ We’re due October 8th. It’s a game-changer, but I’m really excited.”
While a title has always eluded the oldest grom on tour, Burrow has long been one of the most consistent surfers on the tour. In nearly 20 years of professional surfing, only twice has he finished outside of the top 10.
He’s not planning on leaving the tour anytime soon, though–in fact, he’s looking forward to the next few years. “It would be cool to do a couple more years to show my girl and my grom a few places around the world,” he said. “And then I’ll be happy to raise my kid here in the Southwest [of Australia]. But I don’t think it’ll change things too much… wait, what am I talking about, it will change everything! I’ll soon find out.”
