It’s a two-person battle right now, and neither is conceding anything.
When Kevin VanDam claimed the No. 1 spot in the Majors World Ranking on March 26 – supplanting Edwin Evers – we figured he wasn’t leaving that spot anytime soon. He had been on the best one-year tear of any angler and his poor 2010 finishes were dropping off.
A month later, Evers has made it clear he’s not going anywhere, except to the top that is, as he’s taken over the No. 1 spot again after the Elite Series event at Bull Shoals.
Evers made another top 10 over the weekend, which canceled out the seventh-place finish he lost when the 2010 Smith Mountain Lake tournament dropped off on Thursday, while KVD had his worst finish since 2010. That was enough to end VanDam’s reign and again start up the reign of Evers … for now. Evers is set to lose an 11th-place finish on Wednesday, which could again change the top spot.
However, the big mover over the weekend, and of this season, is Brent Chapman. The Kansas angler dropped a 79th-place finish on Thursday and then added a fifth-place finish on Sunday (his third straight top-5 finish) to jump from 36th to 20th. Pretty impressive considering he started the season in 60th.
Meanwhile, Skeet Reese, Terry Scroggins and Steve Kennedy were Champman’s exact opposites. Reese lost a first-place finish and added a 62nd-place finish. That dropped him from 25th to 37th. Meanwhile, Scroggins lost a fourth-place finish and replaced it with his worst Elite Series finish (percentage wise) of the century, dropping him from 31st to 51st. Finally, Kennedy dropped a 24th-place finish and replaced it with a 96th at Bull Shoals, his worst finish since 2008. The result: A 21-place drop to 62nd in the ranking.
Let’s hear about guys moving up, you say. What about the winner at Bull Shoals, you ask. Well, Brandon Palaniuk’s victory helped him crack the top 100 (98th) after being in 124th. As did Matt Heren’s third, which jumped him from 106th to 84th.
Other notable moves include Cliff Pace (56th to 45th), Bill Lowen (74th to 53rd) and Kevin Wirth (71st to 56th).
Minors: Kremer debuts at No. 1
Who is Joseph Kremer? He’s the angler sitting atop the Minors-only World Ranking after this weekend.
The Osteen, Fla., angler finished 27th at the FLW EverStart at Santee Cooper, but more important than his finish is that it was his fifth Minor event in the last two years, qualifying him for the ranking. In fact, the 27th was his worst finish in the last two years, hence why he has a staggering 903.900.
Meanwhile, Yancy Windham continues to head in the wrong direction, finishing 59th at Santee Cooper and falling from 17th to 28th in the last rankings update.
Also falling out of the top 25 after Santee are George Kapiton and Rodger Beaver. Kapiton finished 72nd over the weekend and slipped to 39th, while Beaver finished 82nd and plummeted to 48th.
On the rising side in the top 50, Brandon Medlock finished 16th at Santee Cooper and rose from 66th to 50th.
