Roy Hawk started today in second place with 28-12. That’s less than 4 pounds behind our leader Takahiro Omori. Already today he has two largemouth for 4 pounds in the livewell.
Hawk is considered a rookie, but just barely. His career earnings between Bassmaster and FLW are about $2,000 shy of the $500,000 cap to qualify as a rookie. Most of those winnings came on the FLW series. When you look at his full earnings outside those two organizations he has won about $1 million. A big chunk of that came by winning the U.S. Open in 2015 and the $100,000 that came with it. And he has fished hundreds of tournaments in Arizona and California.
Hawk lives in Lake Havasu, Arizona. But joining the Elite Series means he’ll travel less in 2018. “I’ll go from fishing 40 tournaments a year to 11,” he said. I’ll get to spend a lot more time at home. I’m looking forward to that.” Hawk and his wife Kristina have four children, Skyler, Sunny, Austin and Kaitlyn.
He has lived his whole life out west, growing up in Salt Lake City, Utah. He made the Elites by virtue of winning the Central Opens in 2017. Hawk has fished 26 Bassmaster tournaments including this one. Of those he’s been in the money 11 times, had 8 top 30 finishes and 3 top 10. It certainly looks like he’ll do some damage on the Elite Series this year.