The three surfers join an elite group of five others to have surfed at the top echelon of the sport.
Butland stormed to victory in the final after a slow start, scoring 8.50 then a 7.87 to jump into the lead ahead of Elliot Paerata, Kora Cooper and Tao Mouldey.
“Yeah, pretty special, I don’t even know where to start out. I’m pretty stoked,” said Butland.
“The conditions put it on for us in our final, and the boys were ripping.
“It’s wild to think about the wildcard, I’m kind of tripping on it, eh, I can’t even believe it, to be honest.”
Morse was the youngest of the women’s finalists and she left it until her last wave with less than a minute remaining to score a 6.93 and jump from fourth to first.
“I was in tears after that final,” said Morse.
“I just knew that I was gonna get a wave at the end, so I was kind of just waiting, like I was at peace with the whole heat, and I know everyone was stressing on the beach, but I knew God had it under control and ... yeah, I can’t believe what just happened.
“The May event [WSL] is a big opportunity. It’s really exciting. Yeah, I’ll be able to push myself against some really amazing surfers, so I’ll be really excited and training for all that.”
The WSL Corona Cero New Zealand Pro takes place from May 15-25 at Manu Bay and features the top 60 surfers in the world.
– RNZ
