FORT WORTH, Texas — Marco Rizzo didn’t even know he was a rookie.
The Quitman, Georgia, cowboy had been around bull riding long enough to make “rookie” feel like the wrong word. He had been climbing on calves since he was 6 years old, learning from his dad, hauling to youth events, battling the same boys who would one day become his brothers behind the chutes and chasing the kind of dream that starts before a kid is tall enough to see over the fence.
Or, as Rizzo would say, since he was “knee high to a grasshopper.”
Which, in Georgian, means pretty much his whole life.
But by PBR standards, the label still fit. Rizzo had never ridden a full Unleash The Beast season. He had never made the PBR World Finals. He had never made a premier series cut.
Then, in 2025, Modo Casino PBR Chicago happened.
And suddenly, the “Money Man” was very much in the Rookie of the Year race.
Rizzo’s 2026 breakthrough started under the lights inside United Center, where he went a perfect 3-for-3 and capped the ride of his life with a career-best 90.25-point score aboard the late two-time World Champion Bull Man Hater.
The victory marked his first career Unleash The Beast event win, launched him into the world standings conversation and turned what had once been a comeback story into a Rookie of the Year chase.
Seven days earlier, Rizzo had gone 0-for-2 in Manchester. The pressure had crept in. The doubts had gotten louder. So he went home to Georgia and got back to work.
Practice bulls. Workouts. Faith. Family. Same plan. Same roots.
That has always been Rizzo’s way.
His camo Bible travels with him everywhere. This season, he has vocalized his faith more than ever, reading scripture before events, leaning on prayer and leading prayer in the locker room before riding. During Night 2 of the World Finals, his dad was right there with him, praying in the locker room before the moment.
“I mean, trust the Lord, and every bull you ride, not just every bull you draw, is for a reason,” Rizzo said. “God has a plan right now, and we need to trust that, and that’s what I’ve been telling myself literally every single bull I get on. God’s plan is already written, we can’t change it, so trust yourself, trust your faith in the Lord, trust the plan He has for you. You can never guess the plan.”
For Rizzo, that plan had already taken him through the kind of setback that could make a lesser man quit.
In 2024, his season showed flashes of what was coming. He posted an 87-point ride on American You in Sioux Falls and finished third at the Unleash The Beast event in Los Angeles before a broken leg in Billings brought it all to a hard stop.
That injury did more than end a season. It haunted the next chapter.
So when Rizzo returned to Billings in 2026, he brought his mom with him. Not because he needed her doting, loving attention — the kind she had always given him — but because sometimes conquering the place that once took something from you requires bringing the person who helped put you back together.
His mom has always been that person. His rock. His steady ground. The one who knows when he is struggling before he ever says it out loud.
And in Billings, Marco Rizzo got to walk back into the building that once ended a season and keep writing a different story.
By the time the PBR World Finals arrived in Fort Worth, the Rookie of the Year race had become one of the most quietly compelling storylines in the sport. It was no longer just about Rizzo. It had become a head-to-head battle between the New York Mavericks’ concrete cowboy and Missouri Thunder young gun Maverick Smith.
Smith, the Show-Me State native from Cabool, Missouri, refused to go away. Even after sustaining torn ligaments in his wrist during the opening weekend of the World Finals, he continued his hot streak, pushing Rizzo all the way to the final day of the season.
After five rounds, Rizzo and Smith were separated by just 52 points. By Round 6, the gap had tightened to only 31. Neither rider was able to create separation in Round 7, guaranteeing the Rookie of the Year race would come down to Championship Sunday inside Dickies Arena.
And that is where the moment became pure Marco Rizzo.
Rizzo entered the final day with the lead, but he did not make the Championship Round himself. All he could do was wait.
Smith had one final opportunity to overtake him. One final out. One final chance to flip the standings.
When Smith bucked off, Rizzo officially became the 2026 PBR Rookie of the Year.
Final margin: 30 UTB points.
Rizzo finished the season No. 1 in the rookie race with 453 points and $104,840 in earnings. Smith was second with 423 points and $68,608, while Kase Hitt finished third with 147 points and $19,132.
But anyone who knows Rizzo knows that was not exactly how he wanted it to happen.
He is not the kind of guy who wants another rider to hit the dirt so he can wear the crown. He had spent the season being pushed by Smith, cheering on other riders and living out the kind of sportsmanship bull riding likes to believe it was built on.
“It’s a relief. Shout out to Maverick. He pushed me to be my absolute best this season,” Rizzo said on the Paramount+ telecast. “Not the Finals I wanted, clearly, but it’s just a great feeling. It’s a goal I’ve always wanted to achieve. You only get one shot at it, and I’m just super blessed, thank the Lord. Leave it all in God’s hands and it’ll work out.”
That line — “You only get one shot at it” — matters most.
Some of the greatest riders in PBR history have won Rookie of the Year. It is one of those awards that can only belong to a rider once. No do-overs. No second chance next season. No “we’ll try again next year.”
For Rizzo, it was not just another title.
“It feels great, not just for me, but my family, and my mom, my dad,” Rizzo said. “We’ve been watching PBR since I was knee high to a grasshopper, and to be able to say I’m the 2026 PBR Rookie of the Year, it’s a surreal feeling. When I got on stage with them boys, Hudson and John, it was like, oh my gosh, this is a pretty cool title to win.”
Those boys were Hudson Bolton and John Crimber.
Bolton left Fort Worth as the 2026 PBR World Finals event champion. Crimber left as the 2026 PBR World Champion. Rizzo left as Rookie of the Year.
The “Cowbros,” as the season made impossible not to call them, had spent the year calling each other “champ” instead of dude, bro or whatever other slang would normally fly around behind the chutes. By the end of it, they all were.
If that is not a little too perfect, I do not know what is.
Rizzo’s post-win moment somehow captured all of it. He was trying to put words to the year, saying, “It’s been definitely a year of improving and learning and growing,” when the celebration around Crimber’s world title burst in with whoops, hollers and boys being boys between the lockers.
And honestly, if that does not define Marco Rizzo, what does?
His moment made sweeter by his friend’s moment.
That has been the heartbeat of Rizzo’s season. Faith over ego. Family over flash. Support over jealousy. A guy who could win one of the most prestigious young-rider honors in the sport and still be more worried about whether his grandpa would enjoy the free Busch Light that came with it.
That is “Money Man” in one sentence.
Rizzo has always carried a little old-soul South Georgia charm with him. He is the kind of guy who can win a premier series event, call his mom, hold up the check and still already know where the money is going. After Chicago, he said part of that $40,000 payday was headed to the bathroom remodel at his small South Georgia Baptist church. The very remodel he has been boots on the ground helping with all season.
But don’t worry, he also kept some pennies for a new side-by-side.
A man has to celebrate somehow.
But the season was never just about money, buckles or standings. It was about finding out what he was made of across the first full premier series campaign of his life.
“I’ve never rode a full season, so this was my first season of really going to every single event, riding every single round, and it’s really taught me a lot,” Rizzo said. “How bad do I really want it? And I realized that I want it really bad. I’m just ready for next season, you know. This was just getting my toes wet and seeing what the water was like.”
That may be the scariest part for the rest of the field.
This was Marco Rizzo getting his toes wet.
The rookie season that began with him not even realizing he was eligible for the award ended with him standing on the World Finals stage, holding one of the most meaningful titles a young rider can claim.
He got there through Chicago and Billings, through doubt and broken bones, through locker room prayers and late-night calls home, through a season-long fight with Smith that came down to the very last day.
He got there with his camo Bible in his gear bag, his dad in his corner, his mom on his heart and a group of young riders behind the chutes proving that the future of bull riding is as supportive as it is fearless.