Tim O’Connell is out for the rest of 2024 after experiencing a setback following groin surgery over Easter.
On his first horse back, his groin didn’t hold up and he was forced into a second surgery. During the extended time off, he will also have surgery to repair part of his right knee, which never fully healed after an ACL injury in 2017.
O’Connell has made 10 consecutive NFRs dating back to 2014 and in that span, he amassed three Gold Buckles, three NFR Average crowns and more than $2.6 million in career earnings.
“The pros and cons of this situation are tough, when you think about for the first time in 10 years I will not qualify for the NFR. Being out of competition in the game I love, with my competitors that feel like brothers,” he wrote on Instagram. “On the other side I get to spend my first summer in our new home with my beautiful family. Since Sami and I started dating, we have never gotten this amount of time together, then add on our awesome two boys that I get to experience an extended period of time with, does make me excited and grateful.”
