With the conclusion of the FLW Tour regular season last Saturday, the final Forrest Wood Cup field is now set.
The Cup, which draws anglers from several circuits, replaced the former FLW Tour Championship in 2007. That year marked the first $1 million prize in the sport – Scott Suggs won it – and the big money continued for 2 more years. Michael Bennett won the
second Cup and was paid a million. Greg Hackney won the third Cup, but wasn't Ranger-qualified and thus didn't collect the $500,000 Ranger bonus.
This year's Cup, slated for August 5–8 at Lake Lanier in Georgia – utlilizes the same multi-draw format, but the Ranger bonus has been reduced to $100,000, which puts the maximum 1st-place prize at $600,000.
Field Makeup
The 78-boat 2010 Forrest Wood Cup field is drawn from the 2010 FLW Tour, 2009 FLW Series, 2009 Stren Series, 2010 BFL All-American, 2010 TBF National Championship and 2010 College Fishing Championship. Here's the breakdown:
> Top 30 FLW Tour (2010 Standings)
> Top 20 Eastern FLW Series (2009 standings)
> Top 20 Western FLW Series (2009 standings)
> Five divisional winners from Stren Championship (2009)
> BFL All-American champion (2010)
> TBF National champion (2010)
> College Fishing champion (2010)
Notes
A table that shows the full 2010 Cup Field appears below. A few notes:
> There are three true locals in the field. Tom Mann, Jr. from Buford is a 35-year veteran and an early favorite. Jason Meninger (Gainesville) is a Tour rookie with several years of Series experience. He's won some of the biggest statewide events on Lanier and is right there with Mann as a favorite. Troy Morrow, the TBF All-American champ, lives a half-hour from Lanier (Toccoa) and has fished over 100 tournaments there.
> Mark Rose triple-qualified for the Cup. He won the Stren Championship, made it through the Eastern Series and finished 3rd in this year's Tour points. Officially, he made the Cup through the Eastern Series. FLW Outdoors awarded his Tour berth to an additional Tour pro, and awarded his Stren berth to Keith Pace, who finished 4th overall and 2nd to Rose in the Central division at the Stren Championship.
> Two of the four Bassmaster Elite Series pros who fished the Tour this year made the Cup – Ish Monroe and Steve Kennedy. Edwin Evers and Dave Smith didn't qualify.
> The West will once again send a strong contingent of pros and semi-pros to the Cup. Names on that list include Mike Folkestad, Robert Lee, Mike Reynolds, Cody Meyer and others alongside regulars like Brent Ehrler, Luke Clausen and Jay Yelas.
> Although Jimmy Houston ultimately fell nine spots short of a Cup berth, there are other legends in the field – notably Ron Shuffield, George Cochran, David Fritts, Larry Nixon, plus the aforementioned Yelas and Folkestad.
> Dick Shaffer, a legend on Lake Erie, made the Cup in his rookie Tour outing.
> Both Meyer and Rusty Salewske finished in the Top 5 at last year's Cup, and they'll both fish it again this year.
> Defending Cup champion Greg Hackney won't fish the Cup (unlike the Bassmaster Classic, there's no automatic berth for the previous year's winner).
> Clark Wendlandt bears watching. He's fished 11 Cups and finished inside the Top 10 six times (55%). If he can post a Top 10 this year, that percentage will rise to 58%. Despite the Top 10s, he's never won.
