This week, 46 of the top professional anglers in the sport of bass fishing and 46 co-anglers will converge on Lake Lanier for the Forrest Wood Cup, the championship event for the Walmart FLW Tour.

The winner in the Pro Division will be awarded $500,000 cash, while the co-angler division winner gets $50,000.

The event starts Thursday and goes through Sunday, with the weigh-ins — along with the FLW Expo from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday-Sunday — held at the Gwinnett Convention Center. The Forrest Wood Cup was last held on Lake Lanier in 2010.

Anglers will leave at 7 each morning from Laurel Park.

Top contenders include three-time Angler of the Year winner David Dudley, of Lynchburg, Va., and defending cup champion Scott Martin, of Clewiston, Fla.

Coverage of the Forrest Wood Cup will be broadcast Sept. 16 on NBC Sports.

HIGH SCHOOL SPORTS: Softball and volleyball seasons begin this week, and for a number of area softball teams, that means the Lanier Point Invitational, held Friday and Saturday at Lanier Point softball complex.

Local teams participating include Gainesville, Commerce, East Hall, White County, Jefferson, North Hall, Flowery Branch, Dawson County, Union County, Habersham Central and West Hall. As many as four games will be played at once, spread over the complex’s fields.

Intriguing Friday match-ups include a pair of Hall County rivalry games: North Hall vs. Flowery Branch at 5 p.m. and East Hall vs. West Hall at 8 p.m. At 6:30 p.m., White County goes against Union County.

OLYMPIC FLATWATER SPRINT KAYAK: Lanier Canoe and Kayak Club member Tim Hornsby, the first club member to reach the Olympics, will be competing in the Sprint Men’s K1 200-meter event, beginning at 9:30 a.m. London time — 4:30 a.m. Eastern time — on Friday at the Eaton Dorney Rowing Centre outside of London.

The event can be seen live at www.nbcsports.com.

CHICOPEE WOODS CHAMPIONSHIP: The annual Chicopee Woods Championship begins Saturday at the Chicopee Woods Golf Course in Oakwood. The 36-hole individual competition will conclude Sunday. There is a handicap competition as well.