ESPN Women's Tour

With her second place finish at Clarks Hill Reservoir, Kim Bain did nearly all she could to secure the Toyota Tundra Women's Bassmaster Tour Angler of the Year award on the Women's Bassmaster Tour presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors. With the title she'll make history as the first woman ever to qualify for the Bassmaster Classic.

The Australian now holds a 14-point lead over her closest competitor, Cindy Hill, going into the final event of the season, the WBT Championship on Lake Hamilton in Arkansas, Oct. 23-25.

Hill, who was barely in the hunt after a poor performance at Old Hickory Lake in June, made a serious move at Clarks Hill by winning the tournament and edging Bain by a scant two ounces. Juanita Robinson is third, 35 points back. Pam Martin-Wells, the 2007 WBT Angler of the Year and 2006 WBT Championship winner, is fourth, 73 points off the pace. The rest of the 20-angler WBT Championship field is already mathematically eliminated from Angler of the Year contention.

With just 20 anglers in the field, the possible point differentials are rather narrow. The winner gets 300 points while the 20th-place finisher gets 235 points. Five additional points can be earned by being the daily leader, so the winner is actually guaranteed at least 305 points with a maximum potential tally of 315.

Some quick math reveals that Martin-Wells' chances of taking Angler of the Year honors are on life support. She would not only have to win the event, but would need to lead it at least two of the three days while Bain finishes dead last, Hill is not better than 12th and Robinson is no higher than 8th. Any other outcome gives the prize to someone else.

On the other hand, if Hill can win and leads the tournament from wire-to-wire, she'll be Classic bound no matter what Bain does.

For Robinson to take the title and fish against the men on the Red River, she'll need a high finish with Bain no closer than about seven places back and Hill at least three spots back.

Confused? No worries, as Bain's countrymen would say. It'll all shake out at the WBT Championship where the 20 finalists start out even for the tournament and will have an equal opportunity to win the prestigious WBT Championship and the hefty payday that goes along with it.

This will be the first time the WBT Angler of the Year title is not determined prior to the Championship. It is also the first year that anglers fished a four tournament regular season with the opportunity to "drop" their lowest score. That drop benefited Hill most of all. She was able to discard a lackluster 69th place finish at Old Hickory. Bain and the others have been remarkably consistent. Bain's lowest finish of the year was 6th at the same tournament. Similarly, Robinson has been in the Top 10 at every event this year.

The winner of the Angler of the Year award and a berth in the 2009 Classic won't be determined until the final day of the Championship, Oct. 25, when a new WBT champion is crowned and one talented female angler sets out on the road to Shreveport, La., and bass fishing history.

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