ProRodeo Sports News | 2020 Year-End Edition | Dec.18, 2020

PRORODEO TOUR RECAP

Jess Pope fought through injury to take the bareback riding title at the Gold Buckle Beer ProRodeo Tour Finale in Rapid City, S.D. Alaina Stangle photo

Black Gold 2020 season capped off with ProRodeo Tour Finale

BY MATT NABER A turbulent 2020 season that left some ProRodeo athletes in the red due to the COVID-19 pandemic was capped off with a golden opportunity to get back into the black – at the Gold Buckle Beer ProRodeo Tour Finale. Held near the Black Hills of South Dakota in Rapid City, this $290,616 grand finale provided the boost many cowboys needed to make the jump to the 2020Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Whether or not competing with detached ribs was worth the searing pain boiled down to two points for bareback rider Jess Pope since he was depending on the Tour Finale to qualify for his first NFR. After making it into the finals on a tie-breaker, Pope won the Tour Finale by a hair, claiming the final round by a half-point margin with a 90-point ride on J Bar J’s Straight Moonshine. Pope entered Rapid City, 14th in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings but walked away 11th in the world with $47,114. Simply getting to the Tour Finale was a struggle for Pope, having detached his ribs at the Magic Valley Stampede in Filer, Idaho, at the beginning of September.

“She (the horse) flipped over and I took a rigging handle to the chest,” Pope said. Winning $558 in Filer helped Pope climb to 12th in the Tour standings, ensuring a spot at the last chance to score big during the regular season. “How bad do you want it and what are you willing to do for it?” Pope said. “It hurts like a son of a gun, but if you’re going to be a bear, be a grizzly bear. It will be worth it in December.” DURFEY MAKES NFR CUT, BREAKS $2 MILLION Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey ignored the pain in his back and the numbness in his legs. Going into the Tour Finale, the 2016 world champion was on the outside looking in at the Wrangler NFR but posting an 8-second run in the final round granted him a return trip to the Wrangler NFR by jumping from 20th to 12th in the world standings. “I’d like to say that I’m that good, but it’s the good Lord who got me there,” Durfey said. “I had been fighting a back injury all year and my legs feel numb a lot of the time and have no strength. I had been to 50 rodeos and only placed at a couple, and by the grace of God he gave me the strength to get through it.”

ProRodeo Sports News 12/18/2020

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