News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., picked up a pair of wins Wednesday to begin his title defence at the Players’ Championship. 

Jacobs, who earned his first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s title at the event a year ago, climbed to a 2-0 record with a 6-2 victory over Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers during Draw 5. 

Carruthers (1-1) gave up a steal of one in the first and bounced back with a point in three to tie it. Jacobs scored a deuce in the fourth to reclaim the lead and maintained control forcing Carruthers to another single in five. A runback for three points in the sixth end iced the game. 

“We’re the defending champs so anytime you get an opportunity to defend a title you want to make the most of it,” said Jacobs, who also beat Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont., 6-4 during Draw 3. “I think we’re really hungry for this event for a lot of reasons, that being one of them. We also haven’t won an event on the World Curling Tour this year and we’re really going to give it all we’ve got this week in order to do that.”

Meanwhile, recently crowned world champion Kevin Koe of Calgary also went up 2-0 with a 6-4 win over Howard (0-2). Koe broke a 3-3 tie with an open hit for three points in the seventh and Howard (0-2) ran out of rocks in eight. Team Koe won the gold medal at the worlds just three days ago in Switzerland and is continuing the momentum with barely any signs of fatigue from the overseas trip. 

“We didn’t really know what to expect coming in here today,” Team Koe second Brent Laing said. “Obviously we’re tired but excited to play in the Players’ every year. There’s lot of money on the line so that’s always motivating and being in Toronto, a great venue. We’re excited to play but still … certainly tired from all the travelling and a long week at the worlds. It’s a great day, great to win two.

“We hadn’t beaten Glenn this year so that was a big one for us. He always seems to come up big and play well against us. He played well again but we were fortunate to get a couple breaks and pulled it out.” 

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock also moved up to a 2-0 record downing Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-1. Laycock broke a 1-1 tie with a deuce in the third and rode the steal train swiping singles in the fourth and fifth and stole two more in six to bring out the handshakes. McEwen fell to a 1-1 record. 

Niklas Edin of Sweden improved to a 1-1 record defeating Calgary’s Charles Thomas 6-4. Edin pulled into the lead with a three-ender in six and held on as the teams were limited to singles in the final couple ends. Thomas dropped to 0-2.

In women’s division action, Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque scored five points in the sixth end during an 8-5 win over defending women’s champion Eve Muirhead of Scotland. Both teams hold 1-1 records. 

NOTES: The Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season and runs through to Sunday at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. … Television coverage begins Thursday on Sportsnet. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will also be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Rachel Homan has mathematically clinched the women’s title with the men’s champion to be determined. … Winners of the Players’ Championship earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 26 to May 1 in Sherwood Park, Alta.