Matt Wilkinson lost the yellow rashie to John John Florence in Tahiti and now the Australian has been knocked out in the second round at Trestles.
Surfing in California, Wilkinson was beaten by American wildcard Brett Simpson, who rode to victory on the back of his final two waves to beat the Australian.
Simpson rode a 6.87 followed by a 6.93 on his final wave of the heat to edge Wilkinson by .24 points and advance to the third round of the event.
"In the beginning I was going to my old ways and catching bad waves, just doing dumb things, so I finally told myself to calm down and just ride waves," Simpson said.
"Just look at a wave and if I like it, just go and surf it out which ended up working out in the end.
"I've never been in his position going for a world title being way up there and I'm sure he's disappointed."
The loss for Wilkinson means Florence will likely extend his lead in the title race after he easily advanced to the third round with a first round win, championship rival Gabriel Medina doing likewise.
Wilkinson, wasn't the only Aussie to suffer a heartbreaking loss at the event, Julian Wilson knocked out by Brazilian Alex Ribiero.
Wilson rode a heat-best 7.83 at the death but still lost by .04 points.
There was better news for Josh Kerr and Mick Fanning though - both advanced to the third round and Fanning was in ominous form.
The now occasional tour star put on a clinic against fellow Aussie Matt Banting, riding two near perfect waves.
First Fanning laid down an 8.83 in the first wave of the heat, he followed that up later with a near-perfect 9.77 to send a warning to the competition that he is in form and looking for yet another win.
"There's amazing waves out there," Fanning said.
Normally when you surf Trestles with no one out you just want to catch as many waves as you can and maybe we just had a good heat, but it seemed like it lined up really nice out there.
"Matt [Banting] surfed great, he just did some great turns.
"I'm here to perform and surf the best I can to have some points roll over which is what I try to do each and every day."
