It's hard to stay aboard a 2,000-pound bucking, snarling animal when you can't even grip the rope.

Which is a big reason why Brendon Clark is retiring from the Professional Bull Riders at the end of this season.

Clark, the only California resident competing in the Built Ford Tough Series, will make his final Fresno appearance this weekend when the Table Mountain Casino Invitational returns to the Save Mart Center following a one-year hiatus.

The 32-year-old estimates he has only 40% of the strength in his right hand, a result of ligament damage from a decade-old injury that never properly healed.

"A lot of the time I get bucked off it's because I can't hang onto the rope," Clark said. "If you can't hang onto the rope, it makes it tough."

Clark knows a couple of bull riders who learned how to switch their grip hands, which he equates to a lifelong right-handed hitter in baseball shifting to the left-handed batter's box.

But for him it's too late.

"There are a lot of young guys in the sport, and it's getting harder and harder to keep up," said Clark, a native Australian who married a California girl and settled in Hollister.

"You come to the realization that you can't do this for the rest of your life."

Five former PBR World Champions -- Silvano Alves (2011-12), Renato Nunes (2010), Kody Lostroh (2009), Guilherme Marchi (2008) and Mike Lee (2005) -- are scheduled to compete in the Table Mountain Invitational, which is the 11th stop on the 26-stop BFT Series. Nunes and Lostroh were both victorious in Fresno during their championship seasons.

The top two riders in the 2013 standings, Shane Proctor and Marco Eguchi, will also be in attendance alongside fan favorites Luke Snyder, J.B. Mauney, L.J. Jenkins and Austin Meier.

All 35 bull riders will compete in Round 1 on Saturday night and Round 2 on Sunday afternoon with each rider facing one bull each day. Following Round 2, the riders with the top 10-15 scores advance to the Championship Round for a chance at the event title.

First place is worth $30,000 in addition to valuable series points.

The PBR's BFT Series stopped every year at the Save Mart Center from 2004-11 before skipping 2012.

Clark, who is approaching $1 million in earnings over his 10-year PBR career, is glad to see it return.

"I've always had pretty good luck in all the California events," he said, "so I'm pretty excited to be in Fresno this weekend."

Table Mountain Casino Invitational

When: 6:50 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday

Where: Save Mart Center

Tickets: $15, $25, $50 and $100 at Save Mart Center box office, ticketmaster.com or (800) 745-3000; does not include fees.