Tyler Worley will enter the 2023 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in the No. 15 spot with $93,983.17 won, after initial calculations put the Arkansas heeler on the outside looking in.
The PRCA audits its standings and its competitors’ rodeo counts after the season is complete, and while Coleby Payne won $10,000 at Sioux Falls, South Dakota’s Cinch Governor Cup, that money did not count toward his world standings total—putting Payne at No. 17 on the year with $85,663.46 in earnings. (TRJ has requested clarification from the PRCA as to why that money did not count.)
Worley, 30, qualified for the 2019 and 2020 NFRs, and in 2023 won much of his money with Nelson Wyatt, Jeff Flenniken and Jake Cooper Clay.
Worley is likely to rope with BFI Champ and first-time NFR header Jake Cooper Clay, while Clay Smith will pick up Paden Bray and Wyatt plans to rope with Jonathan Torres.
The Team Roping Journal is following this story closely and will update it if things change. While the PRCA has audited its standings, contestants are still able to file a grievance if they believe the association to be in error, as happened with Tom Richards and Cesar de la Cruz and Chad Masters and Kinney Harrell in 2014, when the audit was reversed and then reversed again in favor of Richards and de la Cruz. That situation was not resolved until a week before the finals, with the final stage of the grievance process happening Nov. 24, 2014.
B12.1.4 Deadline for Filing Certain Grievances. It is important to the sport of rodeo to have finality in standings for purposes of determining qualifiers for certain rodeos like the NFR, CFRs, etc. Therefore, notwithstanding any time limitations in which to bring a grievance as may be set forth in this Chapter 12, if a Member desires to file a grievance (including a grievance filed pursuant to the expedited grievance process), the result of which, if successful, could be a change in the Official Standings, and the Member desires that any resulting changes in Official Standings be made in time to affect qualification for the NFR, the NCFR, a CFR, a special sponsorship event or year-end sponsorship awards, such grievance must be received by the Director of Rodeo Administration no later than 14 calendar days after the end of the corresponding Cutoff Date for that rodeo, event or sponsorship award. If the 14th day after a Cutoff Date falls on a non-PRCA National Office Business Day, then the grievance must be received no later than the next PRCA National Office Business Day. Any grievance filed after this deadline may still be considered, provided that all other requirements for a grievance are satisfied, but any resulting changes will not impact the applicable Official Standings for qualification for the particular rodeo, event or sponsorship awards.
