Five lead changes. Five 90-point rides. One last ride to decide it all.

And when the lights were brightest inside Madison Square Garden, Sage Steele Kimzey delivered a masterclass.

Going a perfect 4-for-4 and posting two 90-point rides — capped by a season-high 92.05 points in the final out of the night — Kimzey won the PBR Monster Energy Buck Off at the Garden presented by Ariat, claiming his first career victory in New York City and vaulting to No. 3 in the Unleash The Beast standings with 217 points.

Not survival under pressure — veteran domination under the New York lights.

A hold-my-beer Sunday

The season’s first three-day event built toward chaos — and then clarity, like finally solving for the square root of x.

Kimzey entered Championship Sunday flawless, calmly stacking points like a man grading his own paper — but the work started well before then. His weekend opened Friday night during the Monster Energy Team Challenge, where he set the tone with 90.6 points on Blue Duck, delivering for the Austin Gamblers in a head-to-head win over the Texas Rattlers.

He backed it up Saturday with a steady ride aboard Easy Labor, then stayed perfect Sunday afternoon with 87.05 points on Snuggles — the same bull Cort McFadden once described as “an angry little turd” — to earn first pick in the Championship Round draft.

From there, the equation was simple: Lights Out, one last out, and the biggest score of the weekend when it mattered most.

True to form, “The Professor” didn’t chase flash. He chased percentages.

“I’m always a percentage-play guy,” Kimzey said. “Highest chance to ride, with the most points available.”

He selected Lights Out — the bull that checked both boxes.

What followed was a clinic.

Exploding from the chutes with intent, Kimzey matched every move, stayed aggressive through the mid-ride, and made the whistle with room to spare — gluing his hand in and riding with the kind of discipline that comes from years of refinement. The judges lit it up: 92.05 points, the best score of the weekend, and the exclamation point on a championship round that swung the lead five times before the final variable was solved.

Steele on the steel

If the ride sealed it, the dismount completed the picture.

Launching away at the end of the ride, Kimzey flew into the air, landed on the bucking chute’s steel bars and instinctively latched on — hanging there just long enough for director of livestock Riley Gagnon to grab him, holding him mere inches above the packed-down dirt and the horns of Lights Out.

Not textbook.
But veteran awareness.

“It’s one of those moments where time slows down,” Kimzey said. “You’re in the air thinking, ‘Okay, this could hurt.’”

The steel wasn’t ideal, but Sage Steele stuck the landing.

It was the perfect visual metaphor for Kimzey’s weekend: calculated risk, controlled chaos, and precision under pressure.

The Professor at work

Nicknamed “The Professor” for his analytical approach, Kimzey rides with a statistical, almost professorial mindset — diagnosing problems, dissecting mechanics and refining details most riders never see.

He admitted Saturday night at the Garden felt like the first time in a while things truly clicked — even if, in his mind, it still wasn’t perfect.

“I’m pretty hard on myself,” he said. “It was not technically perfect — there’s still just a lot of work to do, and I have to get a lot better to get to where I want to be.”

That meant, even after a win at the world’s most famous arena, it was back to the drawing board.

That mindset has defined his career: seven PRCA world titles, a PBR World Finals championship event title, and now a statement win in the sport’s most iconic arena — with his wife and both sons there to share it with him.

Afterward, his youngest son walked into the locker room with his hand in his father’s, two celebratory Twizzlers clutched in the other — the bull rope replaced by the small hand that now grounds him beyond the arena. He waved the candy playfully at Callum Miller, whose jaw remains wired shut, as the Kimzey family gathered around their dad — not the eight-second world champion you see under the arena lights, but the one they know.

Still studying the margins

Despite the win, Kimzey stayed grounded in true veteran form.

“I’m definitely going to build off of this and move forward. At the end of the day, I still have to get better every single day.”

That measured confidence feels dangerous for the rest of the field — especially with what’s coming next.

PBR’s premier series heads to Fiserv Forum for Busch Light PBR Milwaukee presented by Cooper Tires on Jan. 16–17 — the site of Kimzey’s 2025 Unleash The Beast victory, where he delivered a walk-off championship ride to win.

If New York was a reminder of who Sage Steele Kimzey is, Milwaukee might be where he proves just how far this run can go.

After all, Sage is calculated.
Composed.
And once again — grading everyone else on a curve.

Photo courtesy of Bull Stock Media