LAS VEGAS – Tie-down roper Tyson Durfey quietly had the best Wrangler National Finals Rodeo of his relatively young career over the past couple of weeks.
He didn’t win a single go-round. Heck, his best finish was a second-place run in the ninth round.
But he was steady and consistent and placed seven times and finished with the third-fastest cumulative time, roping and tying 10 calves in 100.9 seconds. Through it all, he won $85,236. He wrapped up his run at ProRodeo’s grand finale with an 8.1-second run, good enough for sixth in Saturday’s final go-round at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
“I didn’t have a very good calf that last round,” Durfey said. “They tied her in 10 (seconds) once and 14 once. I just wanted to be real deliberate in what I did, and when I saw Cody Ohl go out of the average, I knew I had to make a businessman run and just tie her down.”
Durfey, of Colbert, Wash., finished the year with $159,214, third place in the standings and just $29,000 behind world champion Trevor Brazile. His biggest check of the 10-day championship came at the end of the rodeo, when he was awarded a $28,197 payday for finishing third in the aggregate race.
“To me, I had to go out there and try to win another $30,000 in the average,” Durfey said. “I got to watch Tuf Cooper go ahead of me, and only if Tuf missed did I have a chance to win the world title. Tuf didn’t miss, so all I could do was take care of my run.”
Raised near Savannah, Mo., Durfey, has been in competition most of his life. His father, Roy Durfey, trains tie-down ropers and tie-down roping horses, and Tyson had the lifelong opportunity to learn from what many people recognize as one of the best.
It all helped propel Tyson Durfey, 26, to two Canadian Professional Rodeo Association titles in 2006 and 2008. He has also qualified for the NFR each of the past three seasons.
The hope, Durfey said, is to use the NFR as a stepping stone to the ultimate prize, the gold buckle that adorns the world champion tie-down roper.
“I’ve got a bout two weeks off, then I’m going to Mike Johnson’s richest calf roping in Tulsa,” he said. “Then I go to Brazil to work on a line of products I’m involved in, Xtreme Equine.
“When I get back, I’m off and running again. I look for good things to happen in 2010.”
