We said if anyone had a chance at ending the revolving door at No. 1 it was Kevin VanDam.
Well, he’s finally made his move in the Majors World Ranking.
When Bass Rankings launched, people were beside themselves that KVD was ranked third. Our argument (and really, it wasn’t an argument. Just facts) was that his poor beginning to the 2010 season was weighing him down. However, with the 2010 Clear Lake event dropping last week (VanDam’s worst tournament in the last two years), combined with his eighth at the Elite Series event at Lake Okeechobee this past weekend, VanDam jumped from third to firmly into the No. 1 position, with his best time of year about to begin.
Plus, as his poor 2010 start continues to drop off, watch his average only improve.
As for the rest of the top 20 in the Majors World Ranking, the only real fallout from Okeechobee was Edwin Evers slipping to second after he finished 35th (though, his finish had little to do with it. VanDam was taking over the No. 1 position regardless when the Clear Lake event dropped off), and Todd Faircloth and Aaron Martens swapped places, with Faircloth now in 17th and Martens falling to 20th.
Now, let’s talk about the guy who won the event. Ish Monroe’s impressive century-eclipsing, wire-to-wire victory jumped him from 111th to 90th. The only thing keeping him from jumping higher is his inconsistency. He ended last season with three top 10s and a 91st. Two weekends ago he finished 96th. A week later, first. The man is a roller coaster, but a talented one at that.
A guy who has obviously figured something out is Chris Lane. His second place, combined with the Clear Lake event dropping off, has jumped him 30 places to 45th. If he keeps this up, he’ll be cracking the top 20 in the not-so-distant future.
Meanwhile, nine seems to be the magic number. Shaw Grisgby (119th to 110th), Brent Chapman (40th to 34th) and Jeff Kriet (80th to 71st) all jumped nine places after finishing in the top 10. Then Scott Rook ruined the pattern by jumping 22 places to 102nd.
As we touched upon last week, Skeet Reese, despite a second and third to start the season, won’t be climbing the rankings anytime soon. For every good event he has this year, it will just get canceled out by a good event from his 2010 campaign dropping off. Reese fans will more than likely have to wait until next year to see him contend in the top 10 as his poor 2011 season drops off, just as VanDam fans had to wait for his poor 2010 to start dropping off for him to contend for the top spot.
Minors: Windam Slides
With so many impressive Minor anglers, one bad event can cost you in the Minors-only World Ranking. Yancy Windham found that out this weekend.
The Reform, Ala., pro finished 67th at the FLW EverStart at Lake Seminole, dropping him from 9th to 17th.
Other notable moves include Brandon McMillan jumping 10 spots to 35th after his victory, George Kapitone’s seventh jumping him 15 places to 21st, and Rodger Beaver’s runner-up finish jumping him 16 places to 27th.
However, the biggest jump was Shaye Baker. He finished fourth to give him a calculator jump from 115th to 69th (as in, we needed a calculator to figure out how many places that was. It’s 46 places, in case you were wondering).
Women: Gessner Climbing
She didn’t win the LBAA event at Lake Hubbard over the weekend, but it helped her the most.
Lynda Gessner finished fourth, which was good enough to jump her up two spots into seventh. Though, she has a long way before she catches Pam Martin-Wells.
