PUEBLO, Colo. (September 2, 2010) - According to Jay Daugherty, PBR senior vice president of competition, Guilherme Marchi will not be in the draw next week for the Greenville Invitational.
Marchi, who has been plagued by issues with his right wrist and hand, has doctored out of the event, and will be replaced in the first Final Five Showdown by Shane Proctor.
Daugherty said Marchi did not indicate if his latest setback would keep him out of competition beyond next week. However, last weekend in Ontario, Calif., the 2008 World Champion said more than once that he is considering sitting out until the PBR World Finals, which gets underway Oct. 20 in Las Vegas.
He is currently undergoing therapy in Brazil and is expected to return to the United States in time for the three-day Built Ford Tough Series event in Springfield, Mo., which starts Sept. 17.
Marchi was originally hurt in a chute mishap in late January at a BFTS event in Anaheim, Calif. He’s missed four events, but to this point has managed to maintain a riding average of 60 percent, which is less than three points off his career average of 62.78.
Through 25 events he’s ranked seventh in the world standings, and has finished in the Top 10 at seven of the 21 events he’s entered.
Last weekend, Marchi unsuccessfully attempted his first round bull, Slim’s Ghost, with his off hand. He bucked off in 3.7 seconds and afterward said that bulls at the BFTS level “are too fast” to keep up with despite having gone 4-for-4 earlier in the week at a local practice pen near his home in Texas.
On Sunday, he switched back to his right hand. His attempt on Goliath, a bull he said beforehand was “too big” to attempt with his off hand, lasted just 2.2 seconds.
In the past five years, Marchi has never finished the season ranked lower than third place. Currently he is just over 1,300 points behind third-place J.B. Mauney and a full 2,892 off the lead held by Renato Nunes.
