Tie-down roper Marty Yates swings his way to Round 4 victory at the NFR

Marty Yates had a rough start to the 2022 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo presented by Teton Ridge failing to place in the first three rounds.

He made up for those lost opportunities in Round 4 Sunday night.

The Stephenville, Texas, cowboy made a slick 7.4-second run to take the Round 4 victory before 17,112 spectators at the Thomas & Mack Center.

“Oh, it’s nice to finally get the monkey off my back,” said Yates, who is making his ninth consecutive appearance at the NFR. “I didn’t have much luck in the first few nights, but made a good run tonight, I drew a good calf, I went out there and did my job and it worked.”

Although things didn’t go his way in the first three rounds, Yates stayed upbeat.

“Oh man, they’ve kind of settled down quite a bit, you know the first few nights didn’t go as good as you’d like them too. You know I had a really good calf tonight, so it made my job easy, you know I’ve rode two different horses so far, so hopefully it’s headed back in my direction.”

Yates was guided to victory by his horse Jag.

“That’s the horse that I’ve owned for a couple of years now. I’ve actually won all my money throughout the regular season on it. So, I sure know every move he’s going to make, so I have a lot of confidence in him.”

Yates, who finished second in the 2020 world standings, has a simple plan for the remainder of the NFR.

“One swing, one wrap and a victory lap, every night that’s what we’re after,” Yates said.