GREEN BAY, Wis. – On his way out of The Pit in Albuquerque, New Mexico, two weeks ago, nine-time World Champion Ty Murray made sure to once again congratulate Jose Vitor Leme on winning the 23^rd annual Ty Murray Invitational.

Leme was in the process of being mobbed and congratulated by a slew of his Brazilian compatriots after he won one of the most exciting Unleash The Beast events of the season that witnessed the Top 3 riders in the world finish first, second and third overall.

Murray had a smile on his face and a glint in his eyes as he looked at the 22-year-old superstar from Brazil.

The current world No. 1 bull rider used a sensational, season-best 92.75-point ride on Cochise to snatch the event victory away from world No. 2 Chase Outlaw and open up some breathing room among the top two bull riders in the world.

“Him riding that bull gave me all the power,” Leme said with the help of Paulo Crimber translating. “First, if I would have bucked off, he would have won the event. Second, it would have kicked me from that No. 1 position.

“I knew I had to ride that bull no matter what.”

Leme’s ride came as no surprise seeing as he had already bested Cochise two times for 90-plus points this season. Two months earlier, he was 92 points in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after previously winning the first 15/15 Bucking Battle of the season with a 91.25-point effort in New York City.

“Today was the best out he has had out of the three times I have rode him,” Leme said in Albuquerque. “I want to thank God to be able to ride him. Today my rope slid to the middle just a bit and I kind of had to move a little bit faster and more than I had done the last two times. I have been on him four times, the first time he bucked me off and now I have got him 90-plus on the other three.

“Every time I get a chance to ride him, I will pick him again.”

The most impressive part of Leme’s win in Albuquerque, though, was that he had to answer his closest challengers in the World Championship race essentially in every round.

Yes, Leme’s biggest call to arms was when he followed up Outlaw’s 90-point ride on Bezerk in the championship round with his own 90-plus aboard Cochise.

However, Leme’s 88.25-point ride in Round 3 was nearly as important. He was able to knock Joao Ricardo Vieira, who had just ridden Sitting Bull for 88.75 points, out of the event lead to head into the championship round with the top selection – and opportunity to select Cochise.

Leme turned down a re-ride option aboard Big Black Cat a night earlier and kept his 76.5 points on Daily Grind after Outlaw and Vieira had previously bucked off their bulls.

Therefore, he was the only rider to start the event a perfect 3-for-3 after he also answered Vieira’s 87.5-point ride on Cut The Cord and Outlaw’s 89.5-point ride on Stuntman Ray in Round 1 with 87.75 points on Nailed.

Murray said you could see Leme’s mental toughness continuing to grow throughout the three-day Albuquerque event.

“I felt like Jose was good when he showed up (at the 2017 World Finals), and I felt like he never put pressure on himself when he showed up,” Murray said. “This is a smart guy. You can tell when you talk to him. The thing is figuring out how to do this over the grind of a PBR season. That is the hard part. I think he is figuring it out. He is not going to have a World Championship given to him by any means, especially with what Chase is doing. If you get Jess Lockwood back to being healthy and feeling good, then that is just another guy in the mix too.”

Leme explained after the event that his re-ride decision was a calculated one.

The third-year pro turned down that chance at Big Black Cat despite previously riding him for 86.25 points in Columbus, Ohio, last month and only bucking off at the 7.84-second mark a year prior in Albuquerque.

Leme was trusting himself to ride all of his bulls.

“I just got really good on the math at this event because with Big Black Cat, I didn’t take the re-ride because on a three-day event my (existing) score helped and I did good,” Leme said. “Seeing those guys buck off, I had a chance to be the only guy to ride all three bulls coming into the short go. That gave me a big step up to be ahead of everybody.”

The risky decision paid off for him, and now Leme may get another shot at Cochise this weekend in the championship round at the Green Bay Invitational, presented by Oneida Resort and North Star Mohican Casino & Resort.

“If I made the championship round 10 times, I would pick him 10 times,” he said.

Leme takes a 434.16-point lead on Outlaw into Round 1 on Friday night at the Resch Center.

The 2017 World Finals event winner has ridden six of his last 10 bulls.

He has drawn Big Country (7-2, UTB) for Round 1 on Friday night.

Murray explained after Albuquerque that he sees a similar natural ability in Leme that he saw in himself when he was winning World Championships.

“He is very naturally athletic, and he works at it on top of that,” Murray said. “He does expect himself to be very athletic. I feel like I was born with a body that was made for this sport. It is nice to be that lucky when this is what you want to do. I tried to do everything I could to help it as well.

“Anything you can do. That not only helps you physically, but for me it helped me mentally. I knew every day I was putting in that effort to try and be better. It doesn’t help everyone, but it helped me.”

Leme, coincidentally, in a separate conversation, talked about being an athlete in a similar fashion as Murray.

He too sees the mental advantages of approaching bull riding as a pro athlete in any other sport would.

“When you get to being an athlete and doing any kind of sport, that dedication gets your attention to be ready for everything,” Leme said. “That is what I try to do and it has been working out.”

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko