ProRodeo Sports News - Dec. 21, 2018

RAM TOP

GUN AWARD

Chase Dougherty won the 2018 RAM Top Gun Award thanks to winning $209,058 in bull riding, not counting ground money. Dougherty was the only bull rider to cover seven of the 10 bulls he drew at his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. PRCA ProRodeo photo by Billie-Jean Duff

Top Gun: Dougherty wins the most dough

BY MATT NABER C hase Dougherty came in guns blazing at his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He was the only bull rider to cover seven of the 10 bulls he drew, raking in $209,058 in the process, not counting ground money. “I didn’t see it coming, it wasn’t even a goal of mine,” Dougherty said. “My goal was to get the average and try a shot at winning the world.” The 20-year-old cowboy achieved his goal, and then some.

“I might get a place, but I’ll try to save it,” he said. This was his first trip to theThomas &Mack Center after narrowly missing it his rookie year in 2017. Although he was ranked third in the 2017 PRCA | Resistol Rookie Standings for bull riding behind Boudreaux Campbell and Tristan Mize, he was 19th in the 2017 world standings with $72,754. Dougherty was sixth in the average before winning the seventh round with 87.5 points on Frontier Rodeo’s Lookin Up. Keeping a cool head helped him turn the final half of his first Wrangler NFR into a hot streak

TOP GUN STANDINGS 1. Chase Dougherty $209,058 2. Tyler Waguespack $180,429 3. Wade Sundell $177,327 4. (tie) Paul Eaves $174,577 Clay Smith $174,577

that included back-to-back wins. “It means a lot, I’ve always wanted to make the NFR, and to get a round win out of it is going to put the icing on the cake,” Dougherty said after winning Round 7. Dougherty split the win with Joe Frost in Round 8 with an 89.5-point ride on Beutler and Son Rodeo’s Dirty Dan. “I got my hand stuck and scared myself into staying on,” joked Dougherty after winning his second consecutive round. “I had no choice but to hang on and ride. It doesn’t matter what I get on, I got here for a reason, and there’s no reason not to ride what’s under me.” Dougherty used that theory to win the average and the RAMTop Gun Award. “That was my goal, to win the average,” Dougherty said. “I wanted to get the average and ride at least half the bulls I got on.” Now that the dust has settled, Dougherty surpassed his goals.

Scoring 603.5 points on seven head was worth more than winning the average, it also put Dougherty in elite status, as he won more money in his event than any other competitor at the 2018Wrangler NFR. That crowned him the ninth competitor to win the RAMTop Gun Award, which started in 2010. The winner of the RAM Top Gun Award receives a one-of-a-kind RAM truck, a custom buckle fromMontana Silversmiths and a one-of-a- kind RAM Top Gun-branded revolver from Commemorative Firearms. “I knew about the Top Gun Award, but it was at the back of my mind,” Dougherty said. “I had planned on getting a truck with the money I won, but that’s taken care of.” Now the Canby, Ore., cowboy isn’t sure what he’ll do with the money he won at the Wrangler NFR. (As a bull rider, including ground money, which isn’t counted toward the Top Gun standings, he actually won $232,750 at the Finals.)

ProRodeo Sports News 12/21/2018

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