Buckle up! Top bull riders in the world compete for PBR champion title

FORT WORTH, Texas (KXII) – One contestant is competing for the second year in a row in hopes of earning the gold buckle.

27-year-old Wyatt Rogers is bucking for the Professional Bull Riders world champion title. “This is definitely the biggest thing we go to the whole year, though. I mean just the goosebumps you get for being here and knowing you’re one of the top 45 bull riders in the world to make it to the finals,” he said.

PBR will award this year’s champion with a gold buckle and one million dollars. After recovering from a broken leg, Rogers placed 42nd last year, he’s hoping for much better this time around. “After a long, grueling season dealing with injuries and whatever else you may have dealt with throughout the season, it’s just the ultimate goal,” said Rogers. “I know if I go out and I perform the way I’m capable of, I can have a possibility, a chance to ride all eight of my bulls.”

His parents were both rodeo competitors, so this has been a dream of Rogers for as long as he can remember. “When I was a baby, I’d sleep through all them events and wake up from the bull riding so that’s just kind of what captured my heart and that’s all that I’ve ever wanted to do,” he said.

And he’s stuck with it, from getting on his first sheep when he was just two years old, to riding horses, then finally… “[I] got on my first bull at the age of 13 and now I’ve been a professional for nine years.”

The PBR World Finals run through Sunday at Fort Worth’s Cowtown Coliseum.

Some of the competition’s events will feature competitors with ties to Texoma:

Roff’s Barthold & Eldred Cattle Co., Ardmore’s D&H Cattle Co., Marietta’s Hart Cattle Co., Tupelo’s Hookin’ W and Lane’s McCoy Rodeo will all have bovine athletes bucking at bull riding’s most prestigious event.

Kingston’s Cheyanne McCartney will compete at the landmark Kid Rock’s Rock N Rodeo.

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