‘Bracket of Doom’ highlights 2003 FLW Tour Championship buzz

Wendlandt, VanDam, Walker, Bolton find themselves in four-way battle to earn berth in finals

With the $1.5 million 2003 Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship only a month away, bass-fishing fans, as usual, can look forward to a variety of compelling and intriguing matchups as a result of the tournament’s unique head-to-head bracket-style format. For starters, how does one go about handicapping a first-round duel between 2002 FLW Tour champion John Sappington and perennial veteran powerhouse Dion Hibdon? Then there is the battle of young guns with Scott Martin, son of fishing legend Roland Martin, paired up against Dave Lefebre, perhaps the hottest rookie on the tour this year. Throw in other interesting first-round, head-to-head bouts such as Greg Hackney and Bill Chapman, Andy Morgan and Keith Williams, and Rick Clunn squaring off against Virginia native John Crews (fishing on his hometown waters for the championship) and you automatically have a host of great story lines before the opening round even begins.

However, as great as some of those battles will be, none of those matchups can compare to the “Bracket of Doom.” By virtue of quirk in the final regular-season standings, pro tour heavyweights Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich., Clark Wendlandt of Cedar Park, Texas, David Walker of Sevierville, Tenn., and Terry Bolton of Paducah, Ky., were all placed in the same four-man bracket – meaning only one of those men can advance to the finals.

And just how stacked is that bracket? Well, let’s take a look.

** From 1999-2001, the FLW Tour Angler of the Year came from the “Bracket of Doom” – Walker won in 1999, Wendlant won in 2000 (in addition to his 1997 AOY title) and VanDam took home the award in 2001. VanDam just barely missed out on a repeat AOY title performance in 2002 – losing out to Jay Yelas on the final day of regular-season competition by the slimmest of margins.

** Combined, all four anglers have amassed 38 top-10 finishes on the FLW Tour since 1996 – Bolton with four, VanDam with seven (including four second-place, one third-place and one fourth-place finish), Walker with 11 and Wendlandt, who also boasts three FLW Tour titles, with 16.

** Combined, all four anglers have won over $1.6 million on FLW Outdoors events during their careers.

Looking forward to the challenge

Bolton – who is probably still wondering who he mistreated in a previous life to get assigned to the same bracket as VanDam, Walker and Wendlandt – acknowledged that he will have his work cut out for him once the FLW Tour Championship – slated for Sept. 10-13 on the James River in Richmond, Va. – commences.

“I drew a tough bracket, that’s for sure,” said Bolton. “Those are some real heavyweights to contend with. The way I look at it, just coming out of that bracket is going to be one heck of an accomplishment in and of itself.”

Wendlandt, who has $795,000 in career winning at FLW Outdoors events, agrees that it won’t be easy to advance.

“The bottom line is that there is no bracket that even comes close to the difficulty of our bracket,” said Wendlandt. “Kevin VanDam is probably the best fisherman in the world right now. David Walker is a top-10 fisherman. I’m somewhere in between. And Terry Bolton is a solid FLW Tour pro as well. It’s definitely the toughest bracket.”

But while the task is daunting, as only one of the four will advance to have a shot at the record first-place championship purse of $500,000, anglers argue that as long as they stay focused, a berth in the finals is a very real possibility.

“I’ve had the opportunity to fish with (first-round opponent Kevin VanDam) before, and what I’ve learned from watching him is that you can’t make any mistakes,” Bolton said. “But in many respects, it’s still going to be me against the fish. Basically, the bottom line is that you still have to fish a very good tournament to advance.”

“It’s going to be tough, but I have a real sense of confidence right now,” said Wendlandt, who tackles Walker in his first-round matchup. “I think the format is going to help me too because it usually takes me about one day of competing to figure out what’s going on. And the fact that we fish against our (first-round opponent) for the first two days means that I can make up some ground if I need to on that second day. But with the money on the line, I’m going to make sure that I prepare for this tournament like no other I’ve ever fished in my life.”

NCAA March Madness format adopted for FLW Tour Championship

Unlike almost any other major bass-fishing tournaments, the 2003 FLW Tour Championship will adopt an extremely unique format that pits angler against angler in a series of head-to-head matchups for the majority of competition. For starters, all championship anglers received seeds ranging from 1 to 48 based on year-end FLW standings points. Once the tournament begins, the No. 1 ranked angler (FLW Tour veteran Dan Morehead of Paducah, Ky., holds the distinction this year) will be matched with the 48th-ranked angler (Alvin Shaw of State Road, N.C.). Second-ranked angler David Dudley of Manteo, N.C., takes on 47th-seeded angler Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minn., and so on down the line.

For the first two days of competition, all pro anglers will compete in bracket-style head-to-head matchups against one opponent. Whoever brings the most weight to the scales in each of those head-to-head matchups over the course of two days will advance to the round of 24 on Friday. Consequently, 24 anglers in each division will be eliminated after the second day of competition.

On Friday, the winners in each of the first-round brackets will again be paired off for another day of head-to-head competition. Whoever brings in the most weight during each of those 12 one-day matchups will advance to the finals. The result is that another 12 anglers will be eliminated on Friday while the remaining 12 winners will advance to Saturday’s finals.

On the final day of competition, the advancing 12 pros will have all of their weights zeroed. Then the finalists will head out onto the open waters of the James River in a one-day battle for the first-place prize of $500,000.

The tournament schedule is as follows: Takeoff will begin at 7 a.m. while weigh-in will commence at 5 p.m. each of the four days of competition.

Co-angler championship follows standard format

In the Co-angler Division, the full field – determined by the top 48 anglers in the year-end standings – will fish the first two days of competition. After Thursday’s weigh-in, the top 24 co-anglers who bring in the largest combined two-day stringers will make the cut and earn a berth in Friday’s co-angler finals. There is no head-to-head competition for co-anglers. On Friday, the top 24 anglers who survive the first two days of competition will have their weights reset to zero. After one more day of fishing, the co-angler champion will be crowned.