BY BRETT NIERENGARTEN
Tilden Hooper enters the 2020 Wrangler NFR No. 4 in the bareback riding world standings, trailing only Tim O’Connell, Kaycee Feild and Orin Larsen. He won $77,548 total.
Hooper’s season got off to a great start when he won one of the nation’s most prestigious rodeos, the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo, which was held at Dickies Arena for the first time in 2020.
Hooper rode Agent Lynx for 91.5 points in the Final Round and earned more than $15,000 at the winter rodeo.
“Man, there’s so much history in this rodeo and to be the first bareback champion here, it’s awesome,” Hooper said after his win in February. “Every one of my heroes has rode here and to get to do it in front of my new hometown crowd, that was even better.”
TILDEN HOOPER - 91.5 POINTS IN FORT WORTH
Later on the winter, Hooper won a good amount of money in a state not known for a ton of rodeo, Florida. In February, he finished second at the Silver Springs Rodeo in Kissimmee with an 85-point ride on Secret Agent. Then in mid-March, he won the 92nd Annual Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo thanks to an 87.5-point ride on Family Traditions. Both of those rodeos paid him more than $4,000.
Hooper collected just $322 in May and June but got his summer going in July when he won the Kildeer Mountain Roundup with an 88-point ride on Black Sunday to earn $5,323.
Later in the summer, Hooper would have stretch between July 24 and Aug. 8 where he got paid at six rodeos in six states over the course of two weeks. Overall, he won $10,265 in that run from Spanish Fork, Utah to Sikeston, Missouri.
Hooper capped the year with two of his best performances of the season while competing against the sport’s elite. At the Riggin’ Rally in Darby, Montana, he notched two 90-point rides and finished second in the Championship Round thanks to a 92-point ride on Blessed Assurances. He left Montana with $8,618.
TILDEN HOOPER YELLOWSTONE RIGGIN’ RALLY INTERVIEW AND HIGHLIGHTS
A few weeks later, he had three straight rides of 86 points or better at the ProRodeo Tour Finale, where he finished second and won more than $7,500.
Overall, Hooper’s average score of 83.5 in 2020 was the highest of his career.
TILDEN HOOPER 87-POINT RIDE ON EASY MONEY AT PRORODEO TOUR FINALE
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