Photo/PBR Caleb Sanderson scored 85.25 for covering this bull on April 2 on his way to winning the Professional Bull Riders U.S. Bank Invitational in Kansas City, Mo.

By Ken Jackson

Professional bull rider Caleb Sanderson is in a hard-knock line of work — a hard way to make an easy living.

But you can pretty much guarantee that the Kissimmee native felt no pain this week.

Sanderson returned home to compete in the Professional Bull Riders series event in Tampa, which begins tonight at the St. Pete Times Forum.

He comes to Florida on the biggest run of momentum in his three-year professional career after posting his first Built Ford Tough PBR victory at the U.S. Bank Invitational in Kansas City last weekend.

He covered his two first-round bulls (staying on the requisite eight seconds to receive a score) Saturday, which gave him the lead for the first time entering the two Sunday runs.

“Sleeping on the lead was kind of nerve-wracking, having never been in that position,” Sanderson said on Monday, the night before leaving from his current Stephenville, Texas, home to make the drive to Kissimmee with some horses. “Those first two runs were tough.”

As the leader entering the third run, he got the critical first choice of bulls to ride.

“It makes a big difference, if you pick first you can get a bull that others have ridden and gotten a score on,” he said. “If you pick later, you end up with a bull that no one wants any part of.”

As the only one of the leaders to cover his third-round ride, Sanderson locked up the title — and the $43,000 winners check — with the final “go” to go.

“All I had to do was climb on a bull in the last round and I’d win. What a nice feeling,” he said. “It’s starting to sink in that I won.”

After the event, he called home to tell his father (and bull-riding mentor), Benny, the good news. But Benny and Pam, his mother, had been following the event online and already knew.

Caleb spoke to Pam, per his routine, on his way into the Sprint Arena on Sunday. She said the conversation was short, doling some usual advice.

“I just told him to handle business, to do what he’d been doing all weekend and all year,” she said. “And he did. The whole family’s so proud and walking on a cloud, and I imagine we will be for quite some time.”

The money will better serve Caleb in the qualifier standings than his bank account. Only the top 35 bull riders in the standings earn a place in the series’ crown jewel event, the Built Ford Tough World Finals in Las Vegas in October. He’s in 11th place with over $68,000 his season after the victory.

Last year he failed to qualify for Worlds after making it in 2009, his rookie year on the circuit. Because he didn’t qualify, he had to ride in five PBR Touring Pro events to re-gain a spot on the Built Ford Tough circuit, but he said that didn’t make him question whether he could hang with bull riding’s professional elite.

“Last year I was 41st in money, but 26th in points. I was riding just good enough to stay on the circuit, I just couldn’t go to Worlds,” he said.

The win also bolstered Sanderson in the Built Ford Tough points standings — and gave him breathing room to keeping a guaranteed ride every week. The top 35 in points keep their ride for the next five events.

With the next “bubble” looming, he was 37th in points, mostly because he spent the month of January on the Touring Pro circuit. He departed Kansas City in 27th.

“I was under pressure to do well, which made (Saturday) tougher,” he said.

The victory fulfilled a goal for Sanderson, a 2007 graduate of Hope Christian Academy, where he also played two seasons of basketball. He wanted to be a pro bull rider “ever since I can remember.”

He was a four-time Florida High School Rodeo Association champion, making four trips to the national event four times, finishing as high as second as a junior.

He said the next goal would be a victory at the lucrative World Finals, although that may be rather ambitious to happen this year.

“I have a lot of catching up to do,” he said. “The money leader (three-time 2011 champ Valdiron de Oliveira of Brazil) rides 80 percent of his bulls. I’m just above 30 percent. I need to get more consistent.”

That consistency could start this week in Tampa, where he covered two bulls and finished “fifth or sixth” last year. The event will be on the Versus network tonight and on NBC from 3-4:30 p.m. on Sunday.

Next week is the PBR’s first “Last Cowboy Standing” event in Las Vegas, where scores are thrown out and the rules are simple — cover and you move on, buck off and you go home.

Sanderson said he continues to ride confidently despite some injuries this season — facial lacerations in February and a bruised right knee sustained two weeks ago in Albuquerque, N.M.

Safe to say, he feels fine this week.