The two-tour BassFan.com Rookie of the Year (ROY) Race has a new formula, which is a simpler, sister formula to the one used in the State Farm/BassFan.com World Rankings. In a nutshell, the new ROY formula is close to an average of an angler's tournament finishes, with bonus points given for winning and placing in the Top 20. For now, it's still on a 150-point scale.

The new formula was needed because of the disparity in the number of tournaments fished by rookies in either league, and also vs. two-tour rookies. As in the world rankings, those rookies who fish more -- i.e., B.A.S.S. rookies can fish more tournaments than FLW rookies, and two-tour rookies fish more events than one-tour rookies -- simply have more chances to improve or worsen their scores. Thus there is no straight points advantage to fishing more events, and no straight points disadvantage to fishing only one tour.

Under the new formula, B.A.S.S. rookie Jeff Reynolds of Platter, Okla. leads the BassFan ROY Race, with FLW rookie Matt Herren of Trussville, Ala. just a few points behind in 2nd. Thanks in part to a 4th-place finish at the Eufaula BASSMASTER, California's Mike Reynolds jumps up into 3rd.

Rookies continue to show their stuff on both tours. In addition to Mike Reynolds, ROY points leader Jeff Reynolds finished 12th at Eufaula and California's Charlie Weyer finished 8th there. The prior tournament -- the Toledo Bend BASSMASTER -- was the first tour event this season where a rookie didn't finish in the Top 10.