The Cinch Playoff Series is breakaway roping’s second route to the National Finals Breakaway Roping: a points race, scored separately from the money race, that fills two September fields on two different deadlines and pays regular-season money to everyone who gets there.
Here is the whole structure of the series. Roughly 60 rodeos a season are designated Playoff Series rodeos. Placing at them earns points on a scoreboard that has nothing to do with dollars. The top 23 in points on Aug. 24 rope at Puyallup, Washington, Sept. 10-13. The top eight in points on Sept. 21, plus the top four out of Puyallup, make the 12-woman Governor’s Cup field in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Sept. 25-27. Both events pay regular-season money—which is how a points race ends up deciding a money race.
How the Points Actually Work
The Women’s Professional Rodeo Association designates roughly 60 rodeos a season as Playoff Series rodeos—Denver, Fort Worth, Houston, Cheyenne, Salt Lake City, Puyallup, and Pendleton among them. Those rodeos still pay regular-season money into the world standings. They also feed the playoff scoreboard.
Points go to the top 20 finishers at each Playoff Series rodeo, awarded off placings in the average—so at a rodeo with multiple go-rounds or a finals, it is the average that counts, not one fast run.
There are three levels of distribution based on a rodeo’s total payout. The biggest rodeos, at $650,000 and up, pay the deepest scale. A middle tier from $325,000 to $649,999 pays roughly three-quarters of that. Rodeos under $325,000 pay half. A win at a top-tier rodeo is worth 150 points; the same win at the smallest tier is worth 75.
Turning out costs a roper twice. Monetary turnout fines double at 2026 Playoff Series rodeos, and a turnout carries up to a 10-point deduction—which is why the bottom of the WPRA’s points file runs into negative numbers.
The Part Most People Get Wrong: There Are Two Cutoffs
This is where the math gets misread. The Playoff Series does not have one deadline. It has two, and they lock two different fields.
Monday, Aug. 24 sets the Puyallup field. WPRA has specified that this cutoff counts points from Caldwell, Idaho; Canby, Oregon; Gooding, Idaho; and Moses Lake, Washington—and does not count Kennewick or Bremerton, Washington, or Tremonton, Utah.
Monday, Sept. 21 sets the Governor’s Cup field. That date falls the Monday after Mandan, North Dakota, and Pendleton, Oregon, finish—meaning a cowgirl outside the top eight on Aug. 24 still has nearly a month of points left to climb in.
The Two Fields
The top 23 in points as of Aug. 24 qualify for Puyallup, joined by the NFR Open champion for a 24-woman field. Puyallup is the wild card: the top four there advance to Sioux Falls no matter where they sit in the season points.
Twelve women rope at the Governor’s Cup. Eight come off the Playoff Series standings as of Sept. 21, the other four out of Puyallup. The format is a tournament—two long rounds, then the top eight to a clean-slate semifinal, then four ropers back for a winner-take-all short round.
There is a wrinkle worth tracking. If Puyallup’s top four are names already inside the top eight in season points, the next finishers down the standings slide into the field instead—so the effective cut line can run deeper than eighth.
Where Breakaway Stands, Through Aug. 10
| Place | Roper | Points | World Standing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Josie Conner | 886.68 | No. 7 |
| 2 | Cheyanne McCartney | 763.47 | No. 1 |
| 3 | Jordi Edens-Mitchell | 731.62 | No. 6 |
| 4 | Rylee A. George | 720.59 | No. 3 |
| 5 | Hali Williams | 703.48 | No. 2 |
| 6 | Bradi Good | 700.63 | No. 18 |
| 7 | Haiden Thompson | 691.19 | No. 11 |
| 8 | Cadee Williams | 690.11 | No. 5 |
| Automatic Governor’s Cup berths end here (top eight as of Sept. 21) | |||
| 9 | Danielle Lowman | 674.13 | No. 9 |
| 10 | Sawyer Gilbert | 663.50 | No. 10 |
| 11 | Taylor Munsell | 636.79 | No. 4 |
| 12 | Amy Ohrt | 627.60 | No. 24 |
| 13 | Beau Peterson | 615.74 | No. 14 |
| 14 | Maddy Jacobs | 578.84 | No. 15 |
| 15 | Martha Angelone | 558.82 | No. 19 |
| 16 | Jordan Jo Hollabaugh | 557.14 | No. 25 |
| 17 | Jill Tanner | 507.13 | No. 16 |
| 18 | Madison Outhier | 505.08 | No. 8 |
| 19 | Aspen Miller | 447.54 | No. 17 |
| 20 | Kinlie Brennise | 417.23 | — |
| 21 | Kamie Jo Crouse | 415.22 | No. 28 |
| 22 | Suzanne Williams | 409.01 | No. 12 |
| 23 | Jackie Crawford | 401.72 | No. 23 |
| Puyallup field ends here (top 23 as of Aug. 24) | |||
| 24 | Jade Mitchell | 348.71 | — |
| 25 | Millie Greenwood | 327.60 | — |
Playoff Series points and world standings both as of the WPRA’s Aug. 11 files, reflecting rodeos through Aug. 10. A dash means the roper sits outside the top 30 in the world standings. Standings are unofficial and subject to audit.
Two Weeks Reshuffled the Whole Top 10
The order at the top looks nothing like it did on Aug. 1.
Rylee A. George added 195.75 points in that stretch and climbed from No. 13 to No. 4—the biggest single move in the standings. Hali Williams added 148.50 and went No. 10 to No. 5. Taylor Munsell picked up 113.25 and moved No. 14 to No. 11.
Two ropers went the other direction without doing anything wrong. Good and Haiden Thompson did not add a point—Good sat at 700.63 both weeks, Thompson at 691.19—and slid from No. 2 and No. 3 to No. 6 and No. 7. Peterson added 25.75 and still fell from No. 7 to No. 13, from comfortably inside the automatic cut to needing Puyallup.
Josie Conner leads it all with 886.68 points, 123.21 clear of Cheyanne McCartney. The tightest number in the standings is at No. 7, where Cadee Williams sits 1.08 points behind Thompson—one placing at one rodeo.
Why It Matters Most to Nos. 12-20
The NFBR takes the top 15 in world standings money when the regular season closes Sept. 30. Maddy Jacobs holds that No. 15 spot right now with $70,641, and the nine cowgirls from No. 12 to No. 20 are packed inside $16,586 of each other. One good weekend decides several Decembers.
The Playoff Series is how that weekend happens. Puyallup and the Governor’s Cup both run before the Sept. 30 cutoff, so every dollar won at either one lands in the world standings.
And the money is real. At the 2025 Governor’s Cup each event paid $155,556, with $32,000 to the champion out of the short round and $11,911 to a long-round winner. Rope well across all three stages and it is better than $55,000 in a weekend. The 2026 purse is bigger—more than $1.5 million across the eight events, paid equally.
Put that against the bubble.
| World | Roper | Money | Points | Playoff Path |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Suzanne Williams | $77,283 | No. 22 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 13 | Jenna Dallyn | $77,015 | — | No playoff path |
| 14 | Beau Peterson | $74,580 | No. 13 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 15 | Maddy Jacobs | $70,641 | No. 14 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| NFBR cut line — top 15 in world standings money on Sept. 30 | ||||
| 16 | Jill Tanner | $65,720 | No. 17 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 17 | Aspen Miller | $65,198 | No. 19 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 18 | Bradi Good | $64,926 | No. 6 | Automatic Governor’s Cup |
| 19 | Martha Angelone | $61,198 | No. 15 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 20 | Tiffany Schieck | $60,697 | — | No playoff path |
| 21 | Jaci Hammons (R) | $59,088 | — | No playoff path |
| 22 | Shelby Boisjoli-Meged | $57,328 | No. 26 | Outside the cut |
| 23 | Jackie Crawford | $56,681 | No. 23 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 24 | Amy Ohrt (R) | $56,666 | No. 12 | In the Puyallup 23 |
| 25 | Jordan Jo Hollabaugh | $56,596 | No. 16 | In the Puyallup 23 |
World standings money and Playoff Series points both as of the WPRA’s Aug. 11 files, reflecting rodeos through Aug. 10. A dash means the roper sits outside the top 35 in Playoff Series points. Standings are unofficial and subject to audit.
Bradi Good is the cowgirl to watch. The Abilene, Texas, roper sits No. 18 in the world, $5,715 outside the NFBR cut—but she is No. 6 in Playoff Series points, which is an automatic Governor’s Cup berth as things stand. Nobody on this bubble has a better route.
Amy Ohrt has the next-best one. The rookie is No. 24 in the world, $13,975 out, and No. 12 in points—four spots from an automatic berth with four rodeos left to climb, and already safely inside the Puyallup field.
Then there is the inversion. Jenna Dallyn is No. 13 in the world, inside the cut, and does not appear in the top 35 in Playoff Series points. Tiffany Schieck at No. 20 and Jaci Hammons at No. 21 are in the same spot. They have built their seasons at rodeos that are not playoff series designated, which means they are depending on regular-season money alone while the women behind them get two more chances at a check.
For everyone else on the bubble—Suzanne Williams, Beau Peterson, Jacobs, Jill Tanner, Aspen Miller, Martha Angelone, Jackie Crawford and Jordan Jo Hollabaugh—Puyallup is the whole plan. All eight are inside the top 23 and outside the automatic eight. Finish top four in Washington and they rope in Sioux Falls.
What’s Left to Decide
Four Playoff Series rodeos count toward the Aug. 24 Puyallup cutoff: Caldwell, Idaho; Canby, Oregon; Gooding, Idaho; and Moses Lake, Washington. Anyone chasing the top 23 has that window and no more.
The Governor’s Cup race runs four weeks longer. Mandan and Pendleton both land before the Sept. 21 cutoff, and both pay deep enough to move the top eight on their own.
Watch Good first. She is the one cowgirl outside the NFBR cut with an automatic ticket to the richest weekend left on the calendar, and $5,715 is one round in Sioux Falls.
