Nevadan Kerry Painter Captures 2011 Fairbanks Open

November 27, 2011

Kerry Painter, an Exempt bowler on the Professional Bowlers Tour, defeated Ron Mohr, the 2011 Senior PBA Tour Player of the Year, in the finals of the 2011 Fairbanks Open to win the tournament and the $2,000 first place prize.  Mohr, earned $1,300 for his 2^nd place finish.

Competing in Alaska for the first time, Painter, age 58 and the oldest exempt player in the PBA Tour’s history, was not distracted by the 100 degree temperature swing he encountered when he left the 70-plus degree temperatures of Las Vegas, Nevada and the World Series of Bowling last week to reach his next destination of Fairbanks, Alaska and temperatures hovering around 30 below zero Fahrenheit.

Painter qualified for the finals as the 2^nd seed behind Mohr, but was able to defeat the reigning Player of the Year with relative ease in Mohr’s home state.  The two, who travel together on the Senior PBA Tour, are good friends and Mohr was able to lure Painter to the Northern most State in the union for the Open.

Painter took advantage of the opportunity and after acclimating himself to the weather with some practice and 6-games of qualifying, he found himself in the hunt early for the title, never falling further than 3^rd in the overall standings.  Thirty-nine amateurs also braved the cold and the touring professionals for one of the longest and most grueling tournaments in the 49^th State.

Painter defeated Anchorage resident Joey Krison in the match leading up to the final.  Painter, who spared in the first frame, appeared to line up off of Krison and put together a string of strikes that outpaced Krison.  Krison earned $900 for his 3^rd place finish.

Krison advanced to face Painter by defeating fellow Anchorage player Andy Morton 257 to 214.  Krison, who throws one of the most powerful balls in the State, was actually behind by 11 pins through the 5^th frame, but an unusual 5-7 split by Morton in the 6^th frame and Krison throwing the next seven strikes ended Morton’s day.  Morton earned $750 for his 4^th place finish.

Morton, who qualified as the #5 seed, defeated local Fairbanks player, crowd favorite, and sole lefty in the finals, Barry Richardson, 226 to 224.  Richardson, who failed to convert a stingy 7-pin in the 9^th frame, opened the door for Morton and Morton capitalized by filling 20 pins in the 10^th frame to take the two-pin victory.  Richardson, who made a late day charge on Sunday to make the show was the unanimous favorite heading into the finals by all of the stepladder competitors, earned $600 for his 5^th place finish.  Click here for complete qualifying and match play standings