North American Bowling News
Ron Mohr Wins PBA Senior Miller High Life Classic
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| Ron Mohr (center), with Miller High Life rep, on left, and George Pappas on right (Photo courtesy PBA LLC) |
Ron Mohr of Eagle River, Alaska, won the Professional Bowlers Association Senior Miller High Life Classic at George Pappas' Victory Lanes for his fourth career Senior Tour title.
Mohr, the 2009 PBA Senior Player of the Year, defeated Tim Kauble of Marion, Ohio, 248-236, in the title match for his first win of the season after a third-place finish in the Sun Bowl In the Villages and fourth place in the season-opening Don Carter Senior Open.
It was an especially emotional win for Mohr, whose wife Linda passed away in January as the result of treatment complications from surgery last September. He had to miss most of the second half of the 2010 Senior Tour season to return home to be with his wife and family.
"I think the best therapy for me was getting back out there and bowling again and I know she certainly would have wanted me to," Mohr said. "I knew I was going to get back out there but didn't know if I would be the same. I was doing well just practicing but you never know how you'll do once you're in competition."
"My plan was to approach this season like I did when I first came out on Tour in 2008," said the 55-year-old Mohr. "I'd bowl the first three tournaments or so and see how it goes and then make a decision on if I should continue.
"It's a big relief, he continued. "Prior to the start of this season I hadn't bowled competitively for seven months so I wasn't sure what the future was going to hold. I'll be honest, winning in the third tournament of the season was more than I could expect."
With Mohr down by 20 pins in the fifth frame, Kauble missed a 10 pin in the sixth frame which turned out to be a turning point in the match.
"He started with the first five (strikes) but when he missed that spare it put me back in the match," Mohr said. "Then, I had four strikes in a row from the sixth to the ninth frame and all I needed to do was mark in the 10th frame to shut him out."
Mohr defeated Keith Sharp of Orlando, Fla., 268-249, in the semifinal to advance to the championship match. Kauble defeated PBA Hall of Famer and four-time Senior Player of the Year Tom Baker of King, N.C., in the other semifinal match, 268-238.