Kevin Van Dam finishes 2nd on career final tournament
BASS PRO TOUR
BAY CITY, Mich. – The storylines entering the Championship Round at Minn Kota Stage Seven Presented by Suzuki focused on bass-fishing G.O.A.T. Kevin VanDam trying for a win in his final regular-season event and the current best in the world, Jacob Wheeler, attempting to win a third-straight Angler of the Year. But, as he’s done before in his career, it was Matt Becker who stole the show on the final day, earning the win and Bally Bet Angler of the Year to boot.
Becker placed a tournament-best 22-pound, 11-ounce bag of smallmouth on SCORETRACKER® when it counted most. In doing so, he completed a double comeback as he rose from fifth place entering the day to win the tournament and from fourth place in the points to take home the AOY title.
Overall, it was a payday of over $200,000 for the Pennsylvania-turned-Tennessee pro.
Becker saves best for last
It was a clean sweep for Becker, who won the tournament with the biggest bag of the event, the Bally Bet Angler of the Year trophy and the Berkley Big Bass Award with his 5-5 kicker.
As time expired for the event, Becker was in a state of shock.
“This feels like a dream – I’m waiting to hear that awful alarm clock noise,” he said. “There is no way this is real – it can’t be real. My ultimate goal has always been to win an Angler of the Year trophy because it shows that you were the best that year, all across the country.”
As tight as the points race was, Becker nearly needed to win at Stage Seven to pull down the AOY and used some great strategy this week as he slowly started to figure out the Saginaw Bay smallmouth.
