Virtual Championship 2006
Opening round – Bracket 21: Chapman vs. Harrison
Another exciting season of tour-level pro bass fishing drew to a close in record-smashing fashion on Lake Champlain last month, 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: Bill Chapman (No. 21) vs. Chip Harrison (No. 28)
Bill Chapman – No. 21 seed: Hailing from Salt Rock, W.Va., Bill Chapman is one of those guys you don’t want to see at a local tournament or team event. For more than a decade, he dominated the mountain state, being described by competitors as a “well-oiled machine,” casting his way to win after win. Chapman took his fishing career to the next level in 1999 by fishing the Stren Series Southeast Division and ultimately qualifying for the FLW Tour that year. He went on to qualify for the FLW Tour Championship from 2000 to 2004, finishing as high as 14th during the 2002 event held on Louisiana’s Cross Lake. Chapman sat out the 2005 FLW Tour season, competing solely in the Stren Series, where he finished eighth in the Northeast Division while nursing a bad back. Healthier and competing better than ever, Chapman may be the dark horse of the 2006 championship with eight of his 13 top-10s coming from the deep South. Look for Chapman to power-fish his way through the bracket.
Chip Harrison – No. 28 seed: He may live in the Midwest, but Chip Harrison has 12 top-10 finishes, ranging from Florida to Michigan. With six of those finishes coming from Florida and another in Alabama, you could say the South favors the Sirius pro’s fishing style. A 1998 Stren Series win on Okeechobee followed up by a second-place finish on the same famed fishery this year in FLW Tour competition further justifies that line of thinking. Although this will only be his third FLW Tour Championship appearance, the Bremen, Ind., angler has fished for the big money before and performed well. In 1999, he missed a $600,000 payday by a few pounds in the Ranger M1 Millennium tournament, but managed a fourth-place finish. Posting three top-50s in 2006, Harrison is well on his way to the best year of his career. A win at the championship would secure it.
Virtual Championship 2006 (click for complete details and poll results)
Wal-Mart FLW Tour Championship 2006 (click for more information)
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