PUEBLO, Colo. – The 2020 Unleash The Beast begins Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York with the Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden, presented by Ariat, and PBR.com will be counting down the final days of the offseason by taking a look back at the Top 5 bull riders at the conclusion of the 2019 season.

Fans can watch Round 1 exclusively on RidePass beginning at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Today, we look at Jess Lockwood, who won the 2019 World Championship

No. 1 Jess Lockwood

World Championships: 2
Best World Standings Finish: 1 (2017 & 2019)

2019 Premier Series (UTB) Stats
Rides: 44
Attempts: 65
Riding Percentage: 67.69%
Top Ride: 94 points on Heartbreak Kid (Nampa, Idaho)
Average Ride Score: 88.52 points
Wins: 5 (New York; Chicago; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Houston; World Finals)
15/15 Bucking Battle Victories: 2 (Albuquerque, New Mexico; Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Round Wins: 14
Top 5: 11
Top 10: 13
90-point Rides: 14

2019 RECAP: Jess Lockwood made history in 2019 by becoming the sixth rider in PBR history to win multiple World Championships.

The 22-year-old is also the youngest rider to ever win two or more gold buckles, and his 5-for-6 showing at the 2019 PBR World Finals also made him one of five riders to win the World Championship and World Finals event title in the same season.

Lockwood’s championship also featured one of the greatest come-from-behind performances at the World Finals. Lockwood began the World Finals 749.66 points behind world leader Jose Vitor Leme after Leme won the 2019 Pendleton Whisky Velocity Tour Finals.

Prior to Lockwood winning the 2019 World Championship, no rider had ever overcome more than a 467.5-point deficit in the current points system, which Lockwood did in 2017.

Lockwood knew he essentially had to win the World Finals event average to have a chance at unseating the dominant Leme.

That remained true as Leme went 4-for-6 to finish fourth in the event average. Leme would have been the World Champion if Lockwood bucked off any of his bulls in Rounds 2-5 and finished second to Matt Triplett in the event average.

Lockwood had almost zero room for error, and he made sure to be close to perfect to pull off the stunning comeback by picking up 2,265 points toward the world standings and not bucking off a single bull until the championship was his.

The Volborg, Montana, rode Silver Back for 86.5 points before ripping off four consecutive 90-point rides – Spotted Demon (91.5), Biker Bob (92), The Right Stuff (91.75) and Rising Sun (91.25) to win the world title.

Lockwood concluded 2019 with career highs in qualified rides (44), attempts (65), riding percentage (67.69%), 90-point rides (14), 15/15 Bucking Battle wins (4), event wins (5) and round wins (14) on the premier series.

The 14 90-point rides is the fourth most by a rider in one season, and Lockwood accomplished all of this despite missing three months with a broken left collarbone he sustained at the 2019 WinStar World Casino and Resort Global Cup USA, presented by Monster Energy.

Two of his most impressive 90s came in the final month of the season aboard Heartbreak Kid. A turning point for Lockwood came in Greensboro, North Carolina, when he ended Heartbreak Kid’s streak of 38 consecutive premier series buckoffs, riding him for 93.75 points.

Lockwood nearly broke his neck on the get-off when he landed on his head. However, Lockwood escaped severe injury and wound up riding Heartbreak Kid the following week for a career-best 94 points in Nampa, Idaho.

Lockwood’s average ride score of 88.52 points was the highest average ride score for a World Champion in PBR history, breaking the previous record of 87.79 held by Chris Shivers (2003).

No longer a bull riding prodigy, Lockwood is now a PBR legend alongside fellow multi-time World Champions Adriano Moraes, Silvano Alves, Justin McBride, Chris Shivers and J.B. Mauney. He also joined Mike Lee (2004), Renato Nunes (2009), Mauney (2013) and Alves (2014) as the only riders to win the World Finals and the world title in the same season.

OUTLOOK: Jess Lockwood put himself among the sport’s greats by winning a second world title in 2019, and he is poised to rewrite the history books in the upcoming seasons.

The youngest bull rider to win two world titles, Lockwood is now setting his sights on becoming only the second bull rider to win back-to-back world titles. If he indeed wins the 2020 world title, he would also join Alves, who won back-to-back championships in 2011-2012, and Moraes as the only three-time World Champions.

“Jess is in a really good place, and Jess has room to get a lot better too,” said PBR Director of Livestock Cody Lambert. “He is a 22-year-old guy that hasn’t reached his full potential here. That is exciting for me. That is exciting for me to watch.”

Lambert also added the confidence Lockwood gained from riding World Champion Bull contender Heartbreak Kid twice last year is apparent.

“Jess rode the rankest bull there was twice last year at the last two regular-season events,” Lambert said. “When you ride the rankest bull there is and nobody else out there does, that has to give you a confidence boost that makes you know you are on a level.”

Lockwood’s bid at repeating in 2018 went for a naught with a torn groin essentially ending his season in the second half until the 2018 World Finals. The fifth-year pro says he learned from that season how to handle the added attention and responsibility that comes with being the reigning champ, and he expects to have the necessary mental fortitude and drive to push for a third championship.

Two-time World Champion Justin McBride believes Lockwood is set to be a force in 2020.

“It will be interesting to see him start off because I don’t think you are going to see the 2018 Jess,” McBride said. “I think we are a little more apt to see last year’s Jess roll right into this year. Which is really, really bad news for everybody else because he is the best bull rider there is, the most well-rounded.”

The key for Lockwood has always been his health, and that will once again be the case in 2020. He has already missed 25 premier series events in the last three seasons, which is the equivalent to almost a full season.

If Lockwood can be healthy for a full season, he may just have the talent to run away with the 2020 World Championship based on the sample size of 2019.

Follow Justin Felisko on Twitter @jfelisko