Virtual Championship 2005: Bracket 4
Today’s matchup: Anthony Gagliardi, Dan Morehead, Dwayne Horton and Zell Rowland
With the 2005 FLW Tour Championship quickly approaching, FLWOutdoors.com once again will be hosting our own version of the “virtual championship” – a featured daily poll where readers can make their own picks and weigh in on exactly who they think will be crowned champion during the July 13-16 year-ending event in Hot Springs, Ark. For the next two weeks or so, FLWOutdoors.com will be asking readers to vote each day on who they think will advance in each of the daily bracket challenges.
Polls are located in the lower right-hand corner of FLWOutdoors.com’s home page and in the same area of the FLW Tour page. After each day’s votes are tabulated, the virtual championship bracket will be immediately updated to reflect the readers’ choices. Full details of Virtual Championship 2005 are provided underneath the bracket.
Today’s featured four-man bracket matchup – Anthony Gagliardi, Dan Morehead, Dwayne Horton and Zell Rowland
Anthony Gagliardi – No. 3 seed: One of the tour’s top pros this season, Gagliardi cashed checks at every FLW tournament this season. With a string of top-60 finishes stretching from Lake Okeechobee to the Potomac River, he earned $56,000 in winnings on the FLW Tour alone in 2005 and vied for the Angler of the Year title right up until the final weekend. Gagliardi is no one-tour pony, however; he also finished the season ranked seventh in points in the EverStart Series Southeast Division – where he claimed his highest finish of the year, third place, at West Point Lake – and earned over $11,000 in winnings. The biggest check came for Gags when he won the FLW Tour event at Kentucky Lake last year and took home his first $100,000. Overall, the pro from Prosperity, S.C., has cleared more than $323,000 in FLW Outdoors earnings and, with such a versatile fishing style, could be on the cusp of a legendary tour career, especially if he can win the FLW Championship. He finished third at the big one last year, so he’s very capable of pulling it off. He’s rolling this season and should be considered one of the favorites at Lake Hamilton.
Dan Morehead – No. 46: After starting the FLW Tour season extremely cold at Okeechobee, Morehead quickly got hot and finished in the top 15 at the next two tournaments. After that, the pro from Paducah, Ky., settled in for some middling finishes that ensured him a championship berth in the 46th position. With 24 top-10 finishes throughout his FLW Outdoors’ career, Morehead holds the distinction of winning standings titles at all three levels of competition – BFL, EverStart and FLW Tour. He won the points in the BFL’s LBL Division in 1997 and the EverStart Central Division in 2004. His biggest year, of course, was 2003 when he graced the Kellogg’s Corn Flakes box as the FLW Tour’s Angler of the Year. With more than $668,000 in career earnings, wins at all three levels and eight FLW Championship appearances, Morehead is one of FLW Outdoors’ most accomplished anglers. He’s already won twice on the FLW Tour – Kentucky Lake in 1998 and Beaver Lake in 2003 – so look out for him at Lake Hamilton. He’s always a force to be reckoned with.
Dwayne Horton – No. 22: After missing the year-end cut the last three seasons, the veteran pro from Knoxville, Tenn., is returning to the FLW Championship this year on the merits of having one of his best FLW Tour seasons to date. He piled up a steady string of top-55 finishes for most of the year and collected more than $36,000 in winnings. Horton is versatile; he fishes all over the FLW Outdoors’ circuits and has 17 top-10 finishes to his name, including six on the FLW Tour over the years. He has two wins, as well: an FLW victory at Kerr Lake in 1997 and a BFL Northeast Division win at Thousand Islands in 2002. Horton’s been to the rodeo before – this is his fourth FLW Championship berth – so don’t expect him to feel any pressure whatsoever at Lake Hamilton.
Zell Rowland – No. 27: Having just rejoined the FLW Tour this season after a seven-year hiatus, Rowland’s history with FLW Outdoors is short. But that means little to this fishing machine from Montgomery, Texas. This year, he earned checks at four out of the six regular-season FLW events and earned his first berth into the championship. His biggest legacy is over at BASS, where he has collected five pro victories and almost a million dollars in winnings. Rowland’s a veteran with years of experience fishing big events, and the cash doesn’t get any bigger than at the FLW Championship.
Poll results
Virtual Championship 2005: Bracket 3
Virtual Championship 2005: Bracket 2
Virtual Championship 2005: Bracket 1