Only one of the top 10 fantasy teams at Lake Norman contained the tournament champion, Sean Hoernke, but it didn’t matter. It still took four picks in the top 10 to contend for the win.
The winner, John Yandell of Alamo, Calif., had four of his picks make the cut – Scott Canterbury, Greg Pugh, Glenn Browne and Brent Ehrler – and two of those, Canterbury and Pugh, hit on exactas.
Here was Yandell’s $100,000 team:
1) LUKE CLAUSEN – 176
2) MICHAEL BENNETT – 183
3) SCOTT CANTERBURY – 2698 **
4) GREG PUGH – 2697 **
5) DANNY PIERCE – 130
6) MARK PACK – 136
7) JAY YELAS – 72
8) GLENN BROWNE – 1196 *
9) BRENT EHRLER – 1195 *
10) JACOB POWROZNIK – 189
Total points – 8672
* Top-10 bonus
** Top-10 and exacta bonus
Like most people, this week’s winner didn’t see Hoernke in his crystal ball, but he made up for it with those four top-10ers. And he needed every point they gave him because Yandell only won by 19 points. The second-place team, picked by Robert Hooper of Cullman, Ala., also had four top-10 picks and two exactas.
In fact, you could argue that this event actually came down to the picks who didn’t make the cut. Three of Yandell’s picks who missed the cut – Luke Clausen, Michael Bennett and Jacob Powroznik – each finished fairly high in the top 25 while Hooper only had two in the top 25, Clausen and Bennett. As close as this one was, that certainly made a big difference.
Still, take note that four top-10s was the magic number at this event, as opposed to three at the first two tournaments. Fantasy players seem to be getting either smarter or luckier as the season wears on. Either way, as we look forward to the very familiar confines of Beaver Lake for the next one, that trend should only continue.