Australia's surfing big guns failed to fire during the opening round of the Margaret River Pro, but defending champion Sebastian Zietz produced a piece of late magic to score a perfect 10-point wave.
Three-time world champion Mick Fanning, Joel Wilkinson, Owen Wright, and Matt Wilkinson all lost their opening-round heats, putting their victory hopes on thin ice.
The Australian quartet will now have to negotiate tough man-on-man battles in the elimination second round.
Queenslander Julian Wilson thought he might have to pull out completely after injuring his ankle while free surfing two days before the event.
But a swift recovery had him back on the board in time for round one, and he did enough to scrape through his round.
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Big scores were hard to come by at North Point - a hollow right-hand reef-point located about 10 miles north of Margaret River.
But Hawaiian Zietz produced the miraculous in the final heat of the day when he somehow made it out of a crashing barrel to secure a perfect 10 from all five judges.
Earlier in the day, Parkinson was on track to come up trumps in his heat, only for Caio Ibelli to pull off a winning wave in the final two minutes.
Wright marked his return from a brain injury with an uplifting victory at the tour-opening Snapper Rocks event earlier this month.
But he'll have to do things the hard way to repeat those heroics in Margaret River after finishing last in his heat.
Wright posted a two-wave total of 8.70, well short of Brazilian Ian Gouveia (12.5) and Australian Connor O'Leary (12.4).
Fanning was unlucky to draw Kelly Slater in the opening round, and the 11-time world champion came out on top.
Slater scored a two-wave total of 8.07, with Fanning managing just 6.67.
Wilkinson, who finished runner-up to Wright at Snapper Rocks, could only manage scores of 1.1 and 2.0 in a heat won by Australian Jack Freestone (6.77).
Slater, Zietz, Wilson, Jordy Smith, Jeremy Flores, and John John Florence were among the surfers to secure direct passage through to the third round.
Wilson was thankful he was still able to compete despite the injury.
"For about 10 minutes I was in excruciating pain," Wilson said.
"But it's made a pretty miraculous turnaround. It's not 100 per cent, but it feels a lot better..
"'I've just strained my Achilles tendon. It's not too severe. I got away with one."
Slater was happy with the decision to run the opening-round heat at North Point for the first time in the tournament's history.
"Actually, years ago I called North Point my favourite wave I'd never surfed. I'd never even surfed it but put it in my top 10," Slater told Fox Sports.
