Lynch, who won Mattara in 2006, is one of 10 past champions granted wildcards into the milestone event, which is set down for Newcastle beach today.

The 27-year-old competed on the WQS series for seven years but has since turned his focus to a career in real estate.

However, Lynch will be working overtime to make a splash in the 50th Mattara classic.

‘‘I’ve got a couple of open homes tomorrow, so I’ve got to duck and dive a bit to get the job done,’’ Lynch said yesterday.

‘‘This is the only contest I do any more, because of the event’s history.

‘‘I’ve really got no interest in state or Australian titles, they were just when I was younger.

‘‘I really enjoy just doing this contest and I look forward to it every year.’’

Another major attraction for Lynch is gaining bragging rights over his father, Bob, who won Mattara 43 years ago.

‘‘It’s one-all with us, so I’d like to have one-up on him,’’ he said.

‘‘It is such a big contest, I think he beat Nat Young in the final.

‘‘It still gets the good guys. ‘‘When I won I beat Ben Dunn in the final just after he qualified for the main tour.

‘‘Drew Courtney is coming up this year, last year Ryan Callinan won it and he’s the top junior in Australia at the moment, so it’s still a high level of surfing.’’

Mattara is the longest consecutively running surfing event in Australia, along with the Bells Beach Surf Classic.

Courtney, Callinan and Lake Munmorah’s Michael Spencer will be among the favourites to win the open men’s event first prize of $2500.

Merewether’s Jackson Baker will be the one to beat in the cadets (under-16s boys’) division, where $500 and a surfboard are up for grabs.

Organisers plan to make Mattara a one-day event, given the forecast for poor conditions tomorrow.

One-metre waves have been forecast for today.

Organisers will decide this morning whether to hold the event at Newcastle, Bar Beach or Merewether.