NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Team King of Kings2, captained by Bart Wetherington of Richmond Hill, Ga., took home South Carolina-Georgia Division Team of the Year honors and qualified for two of the most lucrative championships in kingfishing following the Sept. 8 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series stop in North Myrtle Beach.
Wetherington and his teammates – Gary Wetherington, Curt Hennessey, J. Michael Simko and Nick Van Nice, all of Richmond Hill, Ga. – are now headed to the $275,000 FLW Kingfish Series Championship and $500,000 Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour Championship, where the nation’s best kingfish teams will compete for top awards of $70,000 and $150,000, respectively.
Team King of Kings2 captured the Team of the Year title with 439 out of a possible 500 points thanks to a ninth place finish at the season opener in Brunswick, Ga., a second-place finish at stop No. 2 also in Beaufort, S.C., and a third-place showing at the third and final stop of the year, in North Myrtle Beach.
“This is unbelievable,” Wetherington said. “It has been a great year for us. We are very thankful that we qualified for both championships and excited to be going to both of them. The team as a whole knows the waters of Biloxi very well. We are really excited about going back. It’s been at least 10 years since the last time we fished there.
“It all came down to the event held in Myrtle Beach. We knew going into the event that we had to at least catch one fish to seal the points champion title. We fished our hearts out and took a big gamble to make the run with the weather like it was. We fished all day and watched another boat down from us catch fish after fish. Finally, about 20 minutes before we needed to head back into check-in, the rod on the outrigger went off, and that fish turned out to be enough for second place and secured our points title by one point over our closest competitor. We put our hearts and soul into every event, and it’s great to finally put it all together in one great year.
“We have been in this for a long time and have been with FLW since the inception of the Kingfish Tour. The crew and I are all solid Christians, and we find that the way FLW runs its events suits us very well. We thank the Lord for everything we have and get; it’s a true blessing.”
Wetherington’s team will face the top three teams from each of the 15 FLW Kingfish Series tournaments held in 2007 plus the top 16 teams from each division in the points standings from each of five FLW Kingfish Series divisions during the three-day, no-entry-fee FLW Kingfish Series Championship in Orange Beach, Ala., Oct. 4-6. From there, Team King of Kings2 will advance to the three-day, no-entry-fee FLW Kingfish Tour Championship presented by BP in Biloxi, Miss., Nov. 2-4, where they will compete against the points champions from each of five FLW Kingfish Series divisions and the top 50 teams in the FLW Kingfish Tour points standings.
Both championships will be featured in one-hour episodes of “FLW Outdoors” broadcast to 80 million FSN (Fox Sports Net) households in the United States and more than 429 million households in such countries as Germany, China, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia, Russia, Hungary and the United Kingdom. This reach makes “FLW Outdoors” the most widely distributed fishing program in the world. Additionally, FLW Outdoors is proud to provide tournament coverage to more than 800,000 servicemembers stationed around the world in 177 countries and aboard Navy ships through broadcasts on the American Forces Network.
Named after the legendary founder of Ranger Boats, Forrest L. Wood, FLW Outdoors administers the Wal-Mart FLW Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Series, Stren Series, Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League, Wal-Mart Texas Tournament Trail presented by Abu Garcia, Ranger Owners Tournament Championship Series, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Walleye League, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Tour, Wal-Mart FLW Kingfish Series, Wal-Mart FLW Redfish Series and Wal-Mart FLW Striper Series. These circuits offer combined purses of nearly $43 million through 241 events in 2007.
Wal-Mart and many of America’s largest and most respected companies support FLW Outdoors and its tournament trails. Wal-Mart signed on as an FLW Outdoors sponsor in 1997 and today is the world’s leading supporter of tournament fishing. For more information about Wal-Mart, visit Walmart.com.
For more information about FLW Outdoors and its tournaments, browse FLWOutdoors.com or call (270) 252-1000.