The first Bassmaster Open Championship, slated for Oct. 18-20 at Table Rock Lake, will feature a mix of Elite Series and FLW Tour veterans, Elite Series hopefuls and three former Forrest Wood Cup winners. The 28-man field was set after the Douglas Lake Eastern Open concluded last weekend.
While the bulk of 2019 Bassmaster Classic berths will be settled this week at the Elite Series Angler of the Year Championship at Lake Chatuge, seven more openings will be filled through the Open Championship. The tournament winner along with the top 3 in points from each of the two Open divisions following the championship will secure berths to the ’19 Classic.
Moreover, the Open Championship winner and top 5 finishers in points from each division after the championship, who are not already qualified for the 2019 Elite Series, will be eligible to join B.A.S.S.’ top circuit next year.
There wound up being three double-qualifiers for the Open Championship – Bobby Lane and Wesley Strader in the Eastern Division and Patrick Walters in the Central Division. Bryan Labelle and Ott DeFoe, winners of the Lake Champlain and Douglas Lake Eastern Opens, respectively, did not receive automatic berths in the Open Championship because they did not fish all four tournaments in the division this year. As a result, their spots were awarded to other anglers based on their points finish.
Here's a look at who will be competing at Table Rock next month (* denotes double qualifier; ^ denotes not eligible for Open Championship):
Eastern Division
Tournament winners
> Kissimmee Chain of Lakes: Bobby Lane*
> Lake Norman: Wesley Strader*
> Lake Champlain: Bryan Labelle^
> Douglas Lake: Ott DeFoe^
Top 10 in points
> Brandon Lester
> Garrett Paquette
> John Cox
> Mike Huff
> Drew Cook
> Scott Suggs
> Jared Lintner
> Chad Pipkens
> Todd Auten
> Carl Jocumsen
> Rob Digh
> Ed Loughran III
Central Division
Tournament winners
> Ross Barnett Reservoir: Stephen Browning
> Arkansas River: Harvey Horne
> Red River: Patrick Walters*
> Logan Martin Lake: Justin Atkins
Top 10 in points
> Frank Talley
> Brad Whatley
> Toby Hartsell
> Derek Hudnall
> Mark Rose
> Caleb Sumrall
> Luke Palmer
> Brock Mosley
> Yusuke Miyazaki
> Tyler Rivet
