Thrift, Martin, Johnston and Meyer round of Top 5 AOY
by Curtis Niedermier
FLW PRESS RELEASE
For fans, the Pennzoil Marine Angler of the Year race is over. For Mark Rose, the Pennzoil Marine Angler of the year race is finally over.
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| Faith and family guide Mark to another AOY win. (Photo: FLW) |
“Finally” is necessary to emphasize the relief that Rose felt after Scott Martin was bumped from the top 10 during today’s day-three weigh-in at the FLW Tour event presented by Mercury on Lake St. Clair. That Martin didn’t make the cut to Sunday meant that he could no longer catch Rose in the standings. When Joey Cifuentes weighed in and Martin dropped to 11th, the wait was over, and it became official: Mark Rose is the 2018 FLW Tour Angler of the Year.
Rose took over the lead in the standings at stop No. 5 at Smith Lake and was able to ride it out despite a mediocre 67th-place finish at St. Clair. He had a 64-point lead coming in and needed to finish 64th or better to guarantee no one could catch him.
Sixty-four places is a lot, but not really. Not on St. Clair, where 20 places can be separated by only ounces.
Rose knew that, and he knew it was far from a sure thing. And he was reminded about it often because, when you’re the AOY leader, everyone asks you about AOY. When you’re the AOY leader, bass writers crunch the numbers and figure the odds on whether or not you’ll win it. And when you leave the door open at the final tournament and have to wait it out on shore while Scott Martin, a former AOY himself, gets to fish on top-30 day, you’re forced to sit and watch and wonder about your fate.
