BIG DAWG FINAL FOUR KICKED OFF THE 2014 MASTERS TOURNAMENT AT CALLAWAY GARDENS

Pine Mountain, GA ( 

For the first time ever, the Masters featured a final four head-to-head competition of the top finalists from the 2013 Nautique Big Dawg World Tour. The 2013 champion Jeremy Newby-Ricci edged out Harald Hintringer by half a buoy while Jay Leach skied a quarter of a buoy more than Dave Miller to advance on to the final head-to-head round that will take place on Sunday right after the Pro Men Slalom.

Anna Gay for the second year in a row claimed the Junior Women’s Trick title with a score of 7,330 points followed by Brooke Baldwin and Alice Bagnoli. In the Junior Men’s Trick final, Danylo Filchenko from Ukraine finished with 8,970 points securing his first Junior Men’s Trick title, followed by Gianmarco Pajni and Santiago Robledo in second and third place.

Additionally, in the Junior Women’s Slalom final, Samantha Dumala ran 2@38-off followed by Geneva Roach and Allie Nicholson to claim her first Junior Women’s Slalom title. The Junior Men’s Slalom final was a nail biter with Brando Caruso from Italy and Eamon Van Der Merwe from Republic of South Africa each tying the longstanding course record of 2@39-off for a run-off for the championship. Tying a second time, a second run-off began and Caruso came out on top with a score of 2.5@39-off> to capture the Junior Men’s Slalom title.

In the Junior Women’s Jump final Mara Salmina from Austria jumped 139 feet claiming her first Junior Masters title followed by Abbi Grathwohl and Valentia Gonzalez. Additionally, in the Junior Men’s Jump final, Austria’s Dorien Llewellyn jumped 175 feet claiming his second Junior Men’s Jump title followed by Nick Lang and Taylor Garcia.

Competing in all three events and scoring consistently earned Brooke Baldwin the Junior Masters Women’s Overall title with a score of 2,845 points and junior men skier, Dorien Llewellyn earned his second Junior Masters Men’s Overall title with a score of 2,910 points. 

During the Junior Men’s Wakeboarding semifinal, Jason Soven and Parker Siegele moved on from Heat 1 while Cory Teunissen and Joey Buss advanced from Heat 2 to the finals. In the final round Teunissen rode big and clean linking together a toeside 900 followed by a heelside 900 to finish his first pass claiming the Junior Men’s Wakeboarding title followed by Siegele and Soven.

For complete up-to-date scores of the 22^nd Junior Masters, please visit masterswaterski.com/standings/

An invitation to compete in the Masters is universally considered an acknowledgement of achievement for reaching the pinnacle in a given watersports discipline - only the world's most elite athletes compete at the Masters. To view the 2014 criteria please visit theMasters website. This tournament is sanctioned by IWWF/USA Water Ski and WWA.

Watch all of 55^th Masters action live on Saturday May 24^th starting at 8:00AM EST, please visit masterswaterski.com.