Virtual Championship 2006: Bracket 9
Opening round – Bracket 9: Pirch vs. Ehrler
Virtual Championship 2006
Opening round – Bracket 9: Pirch vs. Ehrler
Another exciting season of tour-level pro bass fishing drew to a close in record-smashing fashion last week on Lake Champlain, leaving only the Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship on the horizon before 2006 is etched forever in the history books. FLWOutdoors.com will once again host 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 will ask 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.
Will fishing fans correctly forecast the winner of this year’s championship? 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: Clifford Pirch (No. 9) vs. Brent Ehrler (No. 40)
Clifford Pirch – No. 9 seed: The aptly named angler Pirch rose from the ranks of the Stren Series Western Division when it began in 2003. There, he established himself as one of the most consistent, all-around anglers on the nascent Western circuit by regularly posting top-60 finishes with the occasional top-10 appearance thrown in for good measure, his best being a runner-up performance at the California Delta in 2004. After having competed in the Stren Series Championship in both 2003 and 2004, Pirch earned his wings and turned his sights toward the FLW Tour. While his results on the elite level have been more erratic than during his stint in the Stren Series, the Arizona native has a knack for fishing into the final round when you least expect it. He first popped up on radar at Beaver Lake during his rookie season in 2005, where he finished fourth. This year, he managed two more top-10 finishes, at Lake Murray and again at Beaver Lake, and his bad tournaments got better, finishing out of the top 100 only once. With four finishes out of six in the money, it’s easy to see how Pirch earned his first FLW Championship bid as the No. 9 seed.
Brent Ehrler – No. 40 seed: When it comes to fishing consistency out of the West, few anglers can match the accomplishments of Ehrler. The California pro ran away with the points title in the emerging Stren Series Western Division in 2003 when he finished third at each of the first three events of the year, becoming that circuit’s first-ever angler of the year. He followed that up with a 2004 Western Division campaign that included two top-five finishes, including a runner-up performance at Lake Havasu, finishing the season third in points and qualifying for his second straight Stren Series Championship. Then he went to Tennessee’s Lake Cumberland and won the championship. Making the leap to FLW Tour competition in 2005, Ehrler is part of the pack of young Western anglers who’ve come east to fish the big show and come with a purpose. Ehrler posted a pair of top-25 finishes his rookie season on tour, but several bottom-end finishes nixed any hopes for a championship bid. This year, however, he figured out how to minimize his bad tournaments, finishing out of the top 100 only once. That, combined with three finishes in the money, his best being a 26th-place effort at Lake Murray, earned Ehrler his first FLW Tour Championship berth as the 40th seed.
Virtual Championship 2006 (click for complete details and poll results)
Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship 2006 (click for more information)
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