Bottcher beats Mouat to get into win column at Princess Auto Players’ Championship
TORONTO — Better late than never, Brendan Bottcher and his Calgary-based club are into the win column at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship.
After two straight losses to start the Grand Slam of Curling season finale, Bottcher bounced back big time with a decisive 8-3 decision in only five ends over Bruce Mouat’s Scottish squad during Draw 8 action Thursday morning.
The five-time Grand Slam champion Bottcher scored three points off the bat in the opening end and added a deuce in the third followed another three count in the fifth that brought out the early handshakes.
Mouat, who finished fourth at the world championship in Switzerland this past weekend, took two in the second and was limited to a single in the fourth. His team is now at 2-1 in the tournament.
There was a matter of revenge at play as Mouat had defeated Bottcher during the Co-op Canadian Open men’s final in January to earn a sixth career Grand Slam title.
PRINCESS AUTO PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Live Scores | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
Elsewhere in Draw 8, Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte (2-1) also wrapped things up in five ends with a 7-2 win over Winnipeg’s Team Matt Dunstone (1-2).
Whyte scored two in the first and stole three in the second for 5-0 hold on the match. Dunstone broke the shutout in the fourth with a deuce, however, Whyte matched right back to count another couple of points.
In women’s play, Ottawa’s Team Rachel Homan (3-0) continued their winning ways with a 7-4 victory over Team Isabella Wranå of Sweden.
The reigning world champion Homan is looking for a third consecutive Grand Slam women’s title and her first at the Princess Auto Players’ Championship to complete a career Grand Slam.
It was the first loss of the week for the defending champion Wranå (2-1).
Team Eun-Jung Kim rolled right past Team Eun-Ji Gim 8-1 in a matchup of South Korean clubs. Kim and Gim hold identical 2-1 records.
UP NEXT
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship continues with Draw 9 at 11:30 a.m. ET. Watch live on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
NOTES
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the 2023-24 season featuring the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The best six teams advance to the playoffs with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, a tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on tap Sunday.
