Runner-up Team Lucas Oil duo of Lawrence and Walker also advance to Knockout Round, four new teams to compete Tuesday

CHARLES COUNTY, Md. (Aug. 17, 2026) – The Team Seaguar BRAWLR duo of Bradley Roy of Lancaster, Kentucky, and Greg Vinson of Wetumpka, Alabama, saved their best fishing for when it mattered most Monday, seizing the momentum in the third period to win Elimination Round Match 2 at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.

Roy and Vinson combined for 17 scorable bass weighing 38 pounds, 2 ounces – including 27 pounds in the final period – to surge past the competition and secure their spot in Wednesday’s Knockout Round. Team Lucas Oil’s Jake Lawrence of Paris, Tennessee, and Jacob Walker of Springville, Alabama, also mounted a late rally, finishing second with 11 bass weighing 23-7 to advance to Thursday’s Knockout Round.

Team BUBBA’s Brent Chapman and Alton Jones Sr., who led entering the final period, slipped to third with nine bass weighing 20-15, while Team OFF! Deep Woods’ Matt Becker and Spencer Shuffield finished fourth with five bass totaling 9-14.

Roy and Vinson entered Monday’s competition confident in their chances on a familiar Potomac River, but it took much of the day for the duo to settle into the pattern that eventually carried them to victory. After totaling just 11 pounds through the first two periods, they located a productive stretch of laydowns in a creek and quickly found the combination they had been searching for.

“It just took us a long time to go through our progression,” Roy said. “Once we got in there and saw that good, clean water with the tide coming out and got a bite, you could just tell our confidence level went up. Once you get a couple of bites like that, you slow down and really start picking it apart.”

The pair worked together with complementary presentations around the heavy cover. Roy focused on the heart of the laydowns with a Texas-rigged worm and heavier Seaguar line, while Vinson followed behind with a drop-shot to coax additional bites from fish positioned around the edges.

“I was trying to fish a little more in the meat and get that bait in there where maybe those fish were a little deeper in the cover,” Roy said. “There were a lot of barnacles and a lot of things you could break off on, so the heavier line was a really big key. Greg worked the outer parts of them, and that one-two punch worked really well for us.”

Vinson, who led all anglers Monday with nine bass weighing 20-15, said his role was to capitalize on fish Roy might not trigger with the more aggressive presentation.

“I’m fishing behind Bradley, and he’s a great angler, so I know he’s hitting the juice with every cast,” Vinson said. “My job behind him is to clean up and try to get some extra bites from those less aggressive fish. The drop-shot was phenomenal for getting those fish that may have already been pressured or just weren’t in the best mood. We were able to get enough bites to move ourselves all the way up there.”

While Team Seaguar BRAWLR charged to the top, Lawrence and Walker were staging a rally of their own. Team Lucas Oil moved north during the falling tide and capitalized on a later outgoing-tide window near the upper portion of Monday’s competition area. With just 25 minutes remaining, Lawrence caught a 2-pound, 1-ounce largemouth that pushed Lucas Oil above the elimination line, then Walker added another 2-pound, 2-ounce bass shortly thereafter to help secure their spot in the Knockout Round.

The top two teams from Elimination Round Match 2 at the Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches advancing to the Knockout Round are:

1st:        Team Seaguar BRAWLR, 17 bass, 38-2
Bradley Roy, Lancaster, Ky., eight bass, 17-3
Greg Vinson, Wetumpka, Ala., nine bass, 20-15
2nd:       Team Lucas Oil, 11 bass, 23-7
Jake Lawrence, Paris, Tenn., five bass, 10-6
Jacob Walker, Springville, Ala., six bass, 13-1

Eliminated from competition are:

3rd:       Team BUBBA, nine bass, 20-15
Brent Chapman, Lenexa, Kan., eight bass, 19-0
Alton Jones Sr., Lorena, Texas, one bass, 1-15
4th:        Team OFF! Deep Woods, five bass, 9-14
Matt Becker, Ten Mile, Tenn., three bass, 5-13
Spencer Shuffield, Hot Springs, Ark., two bass, 4-1

Complete results from throughout the week can be found at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Overall, the four teams caught 42 bass weighing 92 pounds, 6 ounces in Elimination Round Match 2 on the Potomac River Monday. Team Lucas Oil pro Jacob Walker caught a 3-pound, 5-ounce largemouth, to earn Berkley Big Bass honors.

The Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches is hosted by the Charles County Department of Recreation, Parks, and Tourism and takes place over six days in Charles County, Maryland. The competition water for each day is top secret and is only revealed to the anglers when they arrive at the boat ramp each morning. Anglers are driven directly to the day’s competition area launch ramp by their officials. Competition begins on the water at 10:15 a.m.

The MLFNOW!® broadcast team of Chad McKee and J.T. Kenney will break down the extended action live every day of competition from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. MLFNOW!® is livestreamed on MajorLeagueFishing.com, the MLF and MyOutdoorTV (MOTV) apps and Rumble. The final hour of each day of competition will be broadcast live from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. ET on RFD-TV.

The Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches features 12 two-man teams divided into three groups as they enter the one-day Elimination Round matches. Each of the three Elimination Round matches will feature four new teams, with the top two teams from each match of the Elimination Round advancing to the Knockout Round on Days 4 and 5. In the Knockout Rounds, three teams compete each day, with the top two teams from each Knockout Round match moving on to the Championship Round on Day 6. In Friday’s Championship Round, the final four teams will compete in a one-day shootout to determine which team will win the 2026 Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Presented by Bass Pro Shops features four Cup events in 2026 – the Patriot, Heritage, Challenge and Summit Cups – with 12 two-man teams of Bass Pro Tour anglers competing for a share of $560,000 in prize money. Teams were formed through a selection process, in which 48 team captains – based on Fishing Clash Angler of the Year (AOY) standings throughout the 2026 Bass Pro Tour season – selected a teammate. Teams will compete throughout the fall of 2026.

The MLF Starlink Team Series Bass Pro Shops Patriot Cup Presented by B&W Trailer Hitches will also air on Outdoor Channel as six two-hour original episodes each Saturday afternoon beginning in January 2027. The complete television schedule for the Starlink Team Series on Outdoor Channel will be posted at MajorLeagueFishing.com.

Proud sponsors of the MLF Starlink Team Series include: Abu Garcia, B&W Trailer Hitches, Bass Boat Technologies, Bass Pro Shops, Bass Force, Berkley, Black Buffalo, BUBBA, Cigars International, Epic Baits, Ferguson, Grizzly, Kubota, Lowrance, Lucas Oil, Mercury, MillerTech, NITRO Boats, OFF! Deep Woods, Onyx, O’Reilly Auto Parts, Power-Pole, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Starlink, Toyota, YETI, Yuengling and Zenni.

For complete details and updated information on the MLF Starlink Team Series, visit MajorLeagueFishing.com. For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow MLF’s social media outlets at Facebook,  X,  Instagram and YouTube.

About Major League Fishing
Major League Fishing (MLF) is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, producing more than 250 events annually at some of the most prestigious fisheries in the world, while broadcasting to America’s living rooms on CBS, Discovery, Outdoor Channel, VICE, World Fishing Network, RFD-TV, Game & Fish TV and Rumble, and on demand on MyOutdoorTV (MOTV). Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, the MLF roster of bass anglers includes the world’s top pros and more than 30,000 competitors in all 50 states and 20 countries. Since its founding in 2011, MLF has advanced the sport of competitive fishing through its premier television broadcasts and livestreams and is dedicated to improving the quality of life for bass through research, education, fisheries enhancement and fish care.