News & Notes from the Rodeo Trail, April 27
Shad Mayfield, who leads the 2020 PRCA | RAM World Standings with $130,701, and Tuf Cooper, a three-time tie-down roping world champion and second in the world standings, didn’t exactly cruise into the second round of the Digital Rodeo Tournament presented by The Cowboy Channel.
Meanwhile, the leader in the world standings in saddle bronc riding defeated the reigning saddle bronc riding champion when No. 1 Wyatt Casper took 56% of the vote to advance to the quarterfinals over No. 16 Zeke Thurston.
In tie-down roping, two of the most talented and most popular cowboys reached the quarterfinals by the slimmest of margins.
In what proved to be the most challenging event so far, tie-down roping saw No. 1 Mayfield and No. 2 Cooper survive by a combined 708 votes.
Mayfield edged No. 16 Adam Gray with 52.03% of more than 12,000 votes. Cooper’s win was even closer. The Decatur, Texas, cowboy who won tie-down roping titles in 2011, 2012 and 2014 (he also won an all-around title in 2017) defeated No. 15 Bryson Sechrist by 202 votes, advancing with 50.87% of the vote.
Casper, who leads the saddle bronc riding standings with $119,645, is having a heck of a year. He, like Mayfield, took home more than $600,000 after winning The American in Arlington, Texas, in early March.
Casper will be joined in the next round by No. 2 Brody Cress, who held off No. 15 Chase Brooks with 52% of the vote.
In a fun battle of brothers, No. 10 Sterling Crawley edged No. 7 Jacobs Crawley with 56%.
Shorty Garrett, who is fifth in the world standings and aiming for his first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo bid, cruised into the quarterfinals with 74.09% of the vote. It was the third-highest percentage of votes among all events so far.
Bareback rider Tim O’Connell, a three-time PRCA world champion (2016-18), will use some of his free time to interact with ProRodeo fans at 5 p.m. (ET), May 1 on the PRCA Facebook page (@PRCAProRodeo).
To see old Facebook Live interviews, click the video section on PRCA’s Facebook page.
Courtesy of PRCA