Considering everything Owen Wright has been through in the last year it's easy to be in awe of what he's accomplished so far this season. Stunned? Sure. Staggered? Absolutely. Surprised? Well, maybe not. If we flash back to the North Shore winter season of 2015 prior to his head injury, Wright was in the middle of a World Title fight, there wasn't a lot separating him from eventual Champ Adriano de Souza and fellow contenders Mick Fanning, Gabriel Medina and Filipe Toledo. Wright never got to surf the Pipe Masters that year, an event he excels in year after year. With a year long absence from the Tour and our collective surfing consciousness, Wright's championship-level surfing talent rightly took a backseat to greater concerns about his long-term health prospects. But now that he's looking fully recovered and sporting the Jeep Scoreboard yellow jersey, it's time to get back to discussing Wright in terms he's more accustomed to -- his status as a genuine World Title threat in 2017.
