What a claim to fame for veteran Australian surfer Adrian Buchan.
The 30-year-old from NSW's Central Coast has won just two titles in eight years on the world championship tour but each time he beat the sport's greatest athlete, Kelly Slater, in the final.
Buchan claimed his first title since the 2008 event at Hossegor, France, when he again shocked 11-times world champion Slater in a thrilling finale of the Billabong Pro Tahiti at Teahupo'o on Sunday (Monday AEST).
On a marathon final day of competition that ran virtually from dawn to dusk, Buchan went on an inspired tear, eliminating South African star Jordy Smith, Hawaii's John John Florence and defending champion Mick Fanning in successive rounds before shading Slater 18.94 to 17.90 in the decider.
Buchan's back-to-back 9-point rides to open up the final in deep forehand barrels proved enough to stave off an inspired recovery from Slater, including a dramatic righthand barrel in the dying moments.
"I can't believe it," Buchan said. "Kelly is incredible and I thought he snatched it for me at the end.
"What an incredible day. I knew I had to plough through some big names today.
"Every time I paddled out, I told myself that I only had to catch two waves.
"That was my mantra through each heat and it worked out well for me.
"I got emotional after it, had tears in my eyes. I had the cliched thing of having Kelly's posters on my wall when I was young.
"I think I was 12 years old when Kelly won his first world title.
"You grow up idolising someone and watch them win all these titles while at the same time, you're going through the ups and downs of your own career, and then you have a day like this, when you put so much energy and determination into it.
"And when you kind of wake up and realise you're standing on top of the mountain."
Buchan climbs from 18th to 10th on the championship standings after six of the season's 10 events.
Slater's runner-up result pushed the American to the No.1 spot on 38,950 points, ahead of two-time world champion Fanning (37,900) and reigning world champion Joel Parkinson (30,700).
And he likes his chances of collecting a 12th world title, with good previous form at the four remaining events.
"Trestles (California), Europe (France and Portugal) and Pipe (Hawaii) is a pretty strong leg for me historically," Slater said.
"It's pretty close at the top right now so it will be an interesting finish to the season."
Fanning was comfortable with his position despite his loss to Buchan.
"Big picture is all going well," Fanning said. "Another Semi-final? You can't be disappointed with that.
"Ace (Buchan) had a great heat with a phenomenal start and I had a couple of opportunities to come back but the tube monster got me."
