ProRodeo Sports News - Nov.20, 2020

Fast Start Fuels O'Connell Winter success put three-time champ in front

BY KEVIN CARMODY, Special to ProRodeo Sports News G iven a full season, Tim O’Connell could have put his name in the record books for most money won by a bareback rider before the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. With $73,306 racked up by the first week of March, the Zwingle, Iowa, cowboy still had the six months with the season’s most lucrative rodeos to catch event record-holder Clint Cannon ($233,504 in 2009) for most pre-Wrangler NFR earnings. But we all know what happened once we got deeper into March. Still, O’Connell finds himself in a familiar, and coveted, spot heading into the Wrangler NFR at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, Dec. 3-12, and that’s No. 1 in the PRCA | RAMWorld Standings among bareback riders. It’s the same spot where he entered the NFR from 2016 to 2018 and came away with the gold buckle all three times. “I could have stopped rodeoing after The American (ended March 8 at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium) and still come into the Finals at No. 2 or No. 3,” O’Connell said. “I still want to keep that pressure on myself. I enjoy it. If you don’t have that pressure, you’re not where you need to be.” O’Connell has an advantage of $28,035 over his closest competitor, four-time bareback riding world champion Kaycee Feild. “I have a full round on them heading into the NFR,” O’Connell said. “I’ve come in with a full round in the past. Things will have to go off the wall for things to change, and this is what these 60 days (before the Finals) are for, getting my body and mind right to make sure I’m perfect for 10 days.” In around 60 days frommid-January into early March, O’Connell’s season went into overdrive. He won nearly $20,000 after winning two of three rounds and the average at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver and nearly $30,000 at the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. He also pocketed $7,500 with a PRCA record-tying ride of 94 points at the San Angelo (Texas) Cinch Chute-Out Rodeo and added solid paydays in Fort Worth, Texas; Arlington, Texas; and Tucson, Ariz. “I couldn’t have asked for a better winter,” O’Connell said. “When I had the draws underneath me, I took advantage, and when I didn’t, I still made them work. I was just in the zone. Then we got shut down, everything was out of our control, but I stayed after it at home the best I could.” When rodeo returned, O’Connell seemingly picked up where he left off, winning the title at the Woodward (Okla.) Elks Rodeo. As the clock ticks toward his seventhWrangler NFR, O’Connell has his eyes set on one prize, regardless of the venue. “When there’s a gold buckle on the line, you can put the rodeo in my backyard and I’ll show up to win a gold buckle,” O’Connell said. “Fans can plan on seeing the best version of Tim O’Connell for 10 days straight.”

2020 BAREBACK RIDING STANDINGS

1. Tim O’Connell, Zwingle, Iowa................. $122,927 2. Kaycee Feild, Genola, Utah......................... 94,892 3. Orin Larsen, Inglis, Manitoba..................... 81,391 4. Tilden Hooper, Carthage, Texas.................. 77,672 5. Clayton Biglow, Clements, Calif.................. 70,973 6. Jamie Howlett, Rapid City, S.D................... 66,583 7. Richmond Champion, Stevensville, Mont... 64,149 8. Tanner Aus, Granite Falls, Minn.................. 61,726 9. Mason Clements, Draper, Utah................... 58,501 10. Leighton Berry, Weatherford, Texas.......... 53,386 11. Jess Pope, Marshall, Mo........................... 49,612 12. Cole Reiner, Kaycee, Wyo......................... 45,043 13. Jake Brown, Cleveland, Texas................... 42,778 14. Ty Breuer, Mandan, N.D............................ 39,334 15. Chad Rutherford, Hillsboro, Texas............ 37,412 HEAR IT FROM THE CHAMP Clayton Biglow 2019 PRCA Bareback Riding World Champion “That feeling of everyone is shooting for it. Most people can hit a target 10 feet away, but stick it out a mile, then it’s harder to hit that target." –Tim O'Connell QUOTABLE “I know I have that target on my back, and

winning the title has never left, but you have to work hard for everything you get. I’m looking forward to defending the title. They don’t just give those buckles away, and first

Biglow

place or last place, I’m out to win every time I nod my head. So much has changed since I won the title, and not just rodeo-wise. I got married recently (to Annierose Seifert), and I’m trying to build a house with the money I got last year. I guess I’m trying to grow up even though I don’t want to. I’m trying anyway.”

DEC. 3-12, 2020

ProRodeo Sports News 11/20/2020

67