State Farm-BassFan.com World Rankings

Aug 22, 2005

Hackney Best In World for 2005

Following are the State Farm World Rankings as updated after last week's Cabela's Top Gun Championship on Eagle Mountain Lake in Ft. Worth, Texas. These are also the 2005 season-ending rankings, as no more events will be held in 2005 that will count toward the World Rankings. Highlights of post-Top Gun movement include:

Greg Hackney ends the season as the No. 1 angler in the world, making him the only angler other than Kevin VanDam since the World Rankings debuted in 2001 to end a season in the No. 1 spot. Hackney, who finished 10th at Top Gun, saw his World Rankings point lead stay at 12 points – not surprising as he finished higher (10th) at Top Gun than Marty Stone.

Marty Stone (15th at Top Gun) and Skeet Reese (12th at Top Gun) remain 2nd and 3rd in the world, respectively.

Terry Scroggins is helped by his 11th-place finish at Top Gun, and gains a spot in the rankings. He's now 4th in the world. Kevin VanDam, who was eligible to compete at Top Gun but did not, falls to 5th in the world. His points do not change.

Edwin Evers and Takahiro Omori finished 6th and 7th at Top Gun, and remain 6th and 7th in the world.

Top Gun winner Brent Chapman, who did not fish this year's Bassmaster Classic, moves up one spot to finish the season at 8th in the world. Chapman has been solidly in the Top 10 in the world, or close to it, for a while now.

Alabama's Matt Herren is helped by his 5th at Top Gun, and finishes the season in the Top 10, at 9th in the world.

Mike Iaconelli, 17th at Top Gun, remains ranked 10th.

Top Gun anglers under the Top 10 in the world who moved more than two places include:

Anthony Gagliardi falls three places to 11th.

David Walker gains four places to 14th.

George Cochran, whose 3rd at Top Gun marked his third Top 4 championship finish in a row, gains four places and is now 17th in the world.

Notable

This was the highest-ranked field ever in a tournament, which has a couple of effects on the World Rankings.

Since the whole Top Gun field was close to one another in the rankings and the field was small, there's relatively little movement overall. An exception is Aaron Martens, who was in a tight points cluster prior to Top Gun. Since everyone around him gained points and he did not (he chose not to fish Top Gun, and his points did not change), he falls 10 spots to 21st in the world. He will likely climb again as long as he keeps fishing well at the start of the 2006 season.

There's now a gap in the points between those who competed in Top Gun and those who did not. That gap will decrease as the larger-field events are once again counted in the rankings in 2006.

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