He Wants to Catch Good Break

If he could, Ryan Simmons would gladly take a mulligan on the entire surfing year.

He’s been hurt, he’s been down, and when he won a tournament, he had to fork over the money to pay bills.

So he’s hoping the Phillips U.S. Open of Surfing at Huntington Beach, which concludes Sunday, is a little kinder to him.

Simmons, 27, began the surfing season by catching pneumonia in Brazil in February, checking into a hospital with a 104-degree fever.

After recovering, he was stabbed by his own board a month later in Australia, falling awkwardly while in a wave and getting gashed in the calf.

“I had a pretty gnarly puncture wound, three inches long and [pretty] deep,” he said. “The doctor said I was lucky I didn’t get any tendons or ligaments.”

When he returned from Australia, he was dumped by his main sponsor because of poor showings. Then his bank balance took a hit.

Simmons has been surfing well lately, winning $2,500 at a lower-level tournament at San Clemente last month. But he used almost all of it to pay a $2,000 credit-card bill he racked up on a surfing trip to the Maldives archipelago near Sri Lanka.

Simmons, who barely missed qualifying for the elite World Championship Tour last year, could use a hometown edge this weekend.

“I want to jump-start the rest of my year here,” said Simmons, who grew up in Seal Beach. “It’s my home break. I surf here every day. I have dreams of qualifying [for the WCT] and they can definitely start this weekend.”

Another surfer looking to turn the tide is Carlsbad’s Taylor Knox, who made a name for himself at the K2 Big Wave Contest by riding the biggest wave of the El Nino winter of 1998-99.

Knox, 30, conquered a 52-foot wave off Ensenada and won the $50,000 prize but has been relatively quiet on the pro tour. He finished second at Jeffrey’s Bay, South Africa, last month.

“He’s getting on in years and everybody’s expected him to get some results . . . maybe this is the year,” said Ian Cairns, U.S. Open of Surfing spokesman. “He’s totally on form.”

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U.S. Open of Surfing

* When: Through Sunday.

* Where: Huntington Beach Pier.

* Cost: Admission is free.

* Top surfers: Sunny Garcia, Rob Machado, C.J. Hobgood, Taylor Knox, Pauline Menzcer and Prue Jeffries.

* Saturday: Women’s semifinals: 10:20-11 a.m.; final: 2:10-2:40 p.m.

* Sunday: Men’s semifinals: 10:20-11 a.m.; final 1:20-1:50 p.m.