JR Burkhart came back from a loss in the hot-seat match to double dip Michael Hamman in the finals and won the Desert Classic Tour’s B/C stop at Bullshooters on July 28th and 29th.
Burkhart and Hamman were just two of the early favorites in the 40 player field with other notables including Jerry Stuckart, Brian Reich, Carlos Avalos, Burt Balancad, Ken Gouso, Jason Polk and Ed Scott.
Burkhart’s path to the match for the hot-seat was a tough one with wins over Polk, Pat Dicker and C rated Bull Truitt on Saturday.
Hamman’s path was also a tough one with wins over John Hoover, Susan Williams and Leandrea Gaff on Saturday.
The tournament got underway on Sunday with eight players left. Burkhart sent Jim Hendrickson to the left side 7-3, and Hamman defeated Tim Rachu by the same 7-3 score.
On the one loss side, Bill Truitt ended Rachu’s tournament by the score of 6-3, and Hendrickson bounced back from his earlier loss to eliminate Brian Reich 7-6.
The match for the hot-seat was quick and one-sided as Hamman seemed to be in complete control. His 2-0 lead quickly ballooned to a 5-1 lead and a 7-2 victory that didn’t even appear to be that close.
Burkhart regrouped on the one loss side and got ready to face Truitt, who had just eliminated Hendrickson 6-4. Truitt had eliminated Todd Rowitz, Jason Sweet, Rachu and Hendrickson already; and it looked like Burkhart would be adding his name to that list as Truitt raced to a quick 3-1 lead. Things quickly turned around for Burkhart though, as he turned up the pressure with some great safety play and tied the score at 3-3. The score would be tied again at 4-4, before Burkhart won the next three games for a 7-4 win.
Even with the win over Truitt, Burkhart knew he would have to bring his top game to the match against Hamman if he hoped to have a chance to beat him twice in the double elimination finals.
Burkhart looked like a different player than the one who had lost to Hamman earlier in the day as he took advantage of a handful of Hamman misplays and turned a 2-2 scoreline in the first set to a 7-3 win and a second set to determine the tournament winner.
The second set started out as close as the first one, with the players tied at 2-2 and 3-3. Once again, it was Burkhart who took control and started pulling away from Hamman. Burkhart got to the hill first at 6-3, and then held off Hamman for the 7-4 win and first place.
Not buying into the sidepots hurt Burkhart as he only earned $505 in first place prize money. Hamman was able to take $560 in second place prize money back to Tucson with him.
