By Brett Hoffman

Clayton Williams is a 22-year-old bull rider who has earned $740,000 by winning just two bull riding shows.

Unbelievable!

Rodeo cowboys just don’t earn that kind of money. That’s the kind of money pro athletes rake in for driving a race car 500 miles, sinking a putt or hitting a baseball.

But Williams, who lives in the East Texas town of Carthage, earned the $740,000 by winning the Professional Bull Riders’ richest regular-season show for the past two years.

It’s called the Copenhagen Bull Riding Challenger Tour Championship in Oklahoma City. The total purse was $1 million in both 2007 and 2008 and Williams earned a lion’s share of the payday.

Last year, Williams collected $215,000 at the inaugural Challenger Tour Championship. Last weekend, he pocketed $525,000 after finishing as the only cowboy who stayed on all three bulls.

“Everybody gets their turn to win, but mine just keeps falling on the right weekend every year,” Williams said.

No kidding.

Williams rose to the occasion at the right time and in the right place. When he won the title a year ago, Williams was a low-profile pro who was attempting to earn his spurs on the national circuit, and the Oklahoma City show was designed as a star search.

The field of competitors is a mix of PBR’s top-tier tour members and up-and-comers who qualify from lower-level tours. After winning the Oklahoma City show last year, Williams advanced to the top-tier tour and earned a berth to the 2007 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.

But his victory might have been even more remarkable this year. Williams won the title despite a nagging elbow injury in the right riding arm that will require surgery and could sideline him for months.

“I knew people didn’t believe I could win it again because of the injury, and what are the odds of winning it after winning last year?” Williams said. “But that made me want it even worse. But then again, maybe I am lucky.”

Williams drew just the right bulls down the stretch, animals that were tough but not overly rank. After turning in an 84 and an 85 in the first two rounds, Williams stepped it up in the finals by posting an 89 aboard a bull named Team Equine’s Evil Foe.

“If they would have given me a pencil and paper and had me pick (my bulls to ride), I couldn’t have done it any better,” Williams said.

After the last bull had exited the chutes, Williams won the title with a three-ride score of 258.

Veteran Bryan Richardson of Dallas earned $112,000 for finishing second with a two-ride score of 178. Brazilian Robson Palermo pocketed $83,000 for third with 177. Palermo entered the finals with the lead, but missed out on the $500,000 average winner’s prize when he was bucked off a bull named Blue Boy.

As he competed for the title before an enthusiastic crowd at the Ford Center, Williams wore the same greenish colored plaid western shirt he wore last year.

“If I’m here next year, you’ll see me wearing this same shirt again,” Williams said with a chuckle.

And what’s he going to do with all that money? He’s got plenty of options. Williams is the son of high-profile bull owner Terry Williams of Carthage, and the younger Williams also has a thriving bucking bull business.

“The biggest majority of the money will be put up,” Williams said. “Everybody who knows me still makes fun of me because I live with my parents in a room that’s about 12-by-16. So, maybe I’ll a least add on to my room and get a 20-by-30.”

The elder Williams certainly likes the direction that his son is going and was beaming after Clayton entered the winner’s circle in Oklahoma City. Terry Williams said he was moved by the way his son competed despite the elbow injury.

“It’s greater than great,” the elder Williams said. “He was able to come in and put the pain out of his mind despite having a ligament torn into in his arm. It tells the story that he’ll put forth the effort.”

PRCA update

In the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, Chance Smart earned $67,807 by winning the bull riding title on Feb. 16 at the San Antonio Stock Show Rodeo and finishing in the money in two other bull riding events in the Alamo City.

In tie-down roping, Jeff Chapman of Athens won the final round with a time of 8.1 seconds. That helped the former National Finals Rodeo qualifier finish sixth in the average and he earned $7,662. He also ranks eighth in the PRCA tie-down roping world standings with $14,311.

Cutting horse update

In the National Cutting Horse Association, Dual Rey Me and rider Jeremy Barwick of Stephenville clinched the 2007 open division world title on Feb. 16 at the NCHA World Finals in Amarillo. Dual Rey Me is owned by Barwick and he wife Candace.

In the non-pro division, Dan Hansen of Weatherford snared the world title after riding Woody Be Lucky at the Amarillo championships. Hensen and his wife, Karen, own Woody Be Lucky.

CBR update

The Tuff Hedeman Championship Challenge, a Championship Bull Riding show, is scheduled for March 8 at Will Rogers Memorial Coliseum in Fort Worth. Tickets are on sale through Ticketmaster at 214-373-8000 or ticketmaster.com, and at the Billy Bob’s Texas box office.

Brett Hoffman is a 20-year rodeo columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and a member of the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame. He can be reached at brett@myrodeoinsider.com.