Tyler Worley will back in the box at his first-ever Cinch Timed Event Championship after an injury sidelined 2021 CTEC champ Marcus Theriot, giving the three-time NFR heeler an opportunity he has been waiting for most of his adult life.
“I’m super excited,” Worley said. “(Lazy E General Manager) Dan Wall told me the door was open if I wanted to go, and I said, absolutely. I’ve been wanting to try it for so long.”
The call came as Worley, 32, was grabbing lunch before running his first one at the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo.
“I kind of always wanted to try it, but I never really said anything,” Worley said. “I’m married, I’ve got responsibilities, and I probably didn’t need to do that. Then last year on the way home, I was talking to my wife, and she said, ‘Why don’t you try to get into that? You love that.’ That’s when I started making some phone calls.”
Although this will be his first time wearing a back number at the Ironman, Worley is no stranger to the Lazy E. The Arkansas native—who now calls Morgan Mill, Texas, home—has been to Guthrie several times over the last few years to help on the head and heel side. With family close by, the weekend in Guthrie has always been a good time for Worley.
“I was supposed to heel for Quade Hiatt and head and heel for Justin Shaffer,” Worley said of the plan before he got the invite. “I was also going to help Kolton Schmidt before he went out. It’s so much fun to go up there and help. My mom and dad live four and a half hours away from there, so they always come up, and they get to hang out with my little boy. It’s a family deal.”
Of the five events that make up the marathon, there is one that will present a bit of a challenge—but Worley has been working at the rest of them since he was told he was on the list.
“Bulldogging is definitely going to be my weakest event,” Worley said. “Being willing to get down isn’t the problem—it’s knowing what I’m doing. I’ve practiced the other stuff for years, honestly for no reason other than if they ever called me, I wanted to be ready.”
With the Timed Event being on his mind for a while now, Worley has already lined up most of his horsepower and help. He will have his pick of tripping horses that belong to Jesse Stipes, choose one of Clay Brown’s calf horses to ride, borrow Garrett Curry’s bulldogging horse, and for the known team roper, the team roping horses are yet to be determined.
His game plan heading into March is the same as it is all year long: no mistakes.
“That deal is about just knocking them down and not making mistakes,” Worley said. “I’d rather complete the course and see what happens than go try to do something stupid.”
“I’m fairly realistic,” he continued. “I know, no matter how hard I try, I am not going to go trip a steer in 12 or tie a calf in eight. So I might as well just go and knock them all down.”
Now that the invite is official, March can’t come soon enough.
“I’ve wanted to try it for a long time,” Worley said. “I’m just excited to finally get the chance.”
