Edin slams Mouat to start Players’ Championship
TORONTO — Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin made quick work of Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat on Wednesday morning in the Players’ Championship.
Edin, who just captured his fourth world title Sunday, showed no signs of fatigue rolling out to an 11-2 rout in only four ends over Mouat during the second round-robin draw of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Although Mouat opened with the hammer, Edin struck the scoreboard first with back-to-back steals of three in the first and second ends. Mouat recovered with a deuce in three but shook hands early after Edin dropped a critical five-count in the fourth.
Players’ Championship: Tickets | Live Scores/Results | Standings | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
Elsewhere, Edmonton’s Team Brendan Bottcher prevailed 6-5 over Team Peter de Cruz of Switzerland and Winnipeg’s Team Reid Carruthers shaded Scotland’s Team Ross Paterson 6-3.
In women’s play, Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones scored four in the second end and cruised to a 7-2 victory over Team Elena Stern of Switzerland and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg doubled up on Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura 8-4.
Round-robin action resumes at Noon ET. Teams are split into two pools for round-robin play with the best eight overall qualifying for the weekend playoffs.
Broadcast coverage begins Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet and streaming online at Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).
NOTES: The Players’ Championship is the sixth event and fourth major of the 2018-19 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tour featuring 12 of the top men’s teams and 12 of the top women’s teams in the world. … A combined purse of $300,000 is up for grabs with the winning teams cashing in $30,000 each. … Also on the line is the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the season men’s and women’s champions and includes a $75,000 bonus for the winners.
