Virtual Championship 2006: Semifinals
Semifinal round – Fukae vs. Clausen
Virtual Championship 2006
Semifinal round – Fukae vs. Clausen
You’ve chosen the semifinalists, and now the head-to-head matchups are getting even more interesting, reflecting both the public’s prognostication and will. Only the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship remains on the tour-level bass-fishing horizon before 2006 is etched forever in the history books. Will voters correctly forecast the FLW Tour champion? Learn more about qualifying pros while casting your daily ballot.
FLWOutdoors.com is once again hosting its own “virtual championship” – a featured daily poll where readers can make their own picks and weigh in on who they think will be crowned champion during the Aug. 2-5 year-ending event on Logan Martin Lake in Birmingham, Ala.
In the days leading up to the championship, FLWOutdoors.com is asking readers to vote on who they think will advance in each of the daily bracket challenges (polls are located on the right-hand side of the FLW Outdoors and FLW Tour home pages). After each day’s votes are tabulated, the virtual championship bracket will be immediately updated to reflect the readers’ choices.
Revisit Virtual Championship 2006 daily and be a part of the voting body that could be the first to correctly anticipate the championship winner. Vote each day to support your favorite qualified angler and to learn more about the 48 pros who will actually compete on Logan Martin Lake for a top prize of $500,000.
Today’s featured bracket matchup: Shinichi Fukae (No. 15) vs. Luke Clausen (No. 39)
Shinichi Fukae – No. 15 seed: Shinichi Fukae of Mineola, Texas, got off to an impressive start this season, winning the season opener on Lake Okeechobee in Clewiston, Fla., and then the Wal-Mart Open on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark., earning $300,000 in the first half of the season alone. Not only does he have two FLW Tour wins this year, he also has one other top-five on the tour and one top-five finish on the FLW Series at Lake Lanier in Gainesville, Ga. Fukae has only been fishing FLW Outdoors events since 2004, but he has already amassed an astonishing $476,800 in tournament winnings, including two wins and seven top-10 finishes in only 22 events. With this record and the confidence Fukae has in his angling ability, he will definitely make his presence known at the championship. Patience, perseverance and confidence are some traits that make great professional bass fishermen, and Fukae has them all.
Luke Clausen – No. 39 seed: As FLW Outdoors events have spread to the West in recent years, fishing fans everywhere are witnessing the high caliber of not only the region’s fisheries but its anglers, and in the forefront of that group is Luke Clausen of Spokane, Wash. Clausen won the very first FLW Outdoors even he ever fished in 2003 – a Stren Western event on Clear Lake – and followed it up with a top-10 in the same event the following year. But in 2004, few were prepared for Clausen to win the vaunted FLW Tour Championship on Logan Martin Lake in his rookie season on tour. Though he missed qualifying for the championship in 2005, Clausen is dialed in again this year, currently ranked fifth in the FLW Series and having fished an extremely consistent season on tour. With $688,250 already amassed in FLW Outdoors career earnings after only a few years of fishing with the organization, Clausen has a taste for winning, and everyone will be watching to see if he can reprise his 2004 championship win on Logan Martin Lake when the tour returns to the Alabama fishery to finish the 2006 season.
Virtual Championship 2006 (click for complete details and poll results)
Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship 2006 (click for more information)
Semifinals: Martin vs. Dudley
Semifinals: Bosley vs. Hibdon
Semifinals: Chapman vs. Strader
Semifinals: Moynagh vs. Blaukat
Semifinals: Yelas vs. Lefebre
Semifinals: Rojas vs. Kennedy
Semifinals: Morehead vs. Yamamoto
Semifinals: Nixon vs. Kilby
Semifinals: Herren vs. Wendlandt
Semifinals: Gagliardi vs. Knapp
Correia vs. Knapp
Wendlandt vs. Ferguson
Couch vs. Blaukat
Chapman vs. Harrison
Robertson vs. Dudley
Bosley vs. Shaw
Morgan vs. Morehead
Browne vs. Kilby
Chapman vs. Colson
Fukae vs. Jones
Hawkes vs. Yelas
Klinger vs. Kennedy
Rojas vs. Bolton
Le vs. Lefebre
Monsoor vs. Clausen
Pirch vs. Ehrler
Nixon vs. Cochran
Bolivar vs. Yamamoto
Bennett vs. Hibdon
Martin vs. Berry
Scheide vs. Strader
Moynagh vs. Stricker
Herren vs. Namiki
Gagliardi vs. Monroe