News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Eve Muirhead finished off her historic season with another win for the record books by becoming the youngest skip to capture a Grand Slam of Curling title.

The 22-year-old Muirhead and her Scottish squad defeated Margaretha Sigfridsson’s Swedish team 8-5 Sunday to win the Players’ Championship at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.

It was a repeat of last month’s world championship final where Muirhead beat Sigfridsson to become the youngest skip to win gold at that tournament as well.

“It’s always tough for the world champion to come into the Players’ Championship because you know you’re on such a high from the worlds,” Muirhead told Sportsnet’s Brad Fay after the final. “But we’ve had great fun here. It’s been a relaxed competition. To come out and top a great season with the Players’ Championship is just phenomenal.”

The team of Muirhead, third Anna Sloan, second Vicki Adams and lead Claire Hamilton also finished first overall in the Bonus Cup standings.

After forcing Sigfridsson to a single in the first, Muirhead pulled ahead in the second after she nailed an incredible double takeout to score three and never trailed from there.

Sigfridsson tied it up with a deuce in the third but Muirhead matched with a pair of points in the fourth to regain the two-point advantage.

Following another deuce in six to hold a 7-4 lead, Muirhead limited Sigfridsson to a single in seven to grab the hammer for the final frame and made no mistake driving her last stone to the eight-foot to secure the title.

It was a roller-coaster week for Muirhead, whose team dropped to a 1-2 round-robin record after falling 8-5 Thursday afternoon to Saskatoon’s Stefanie Lawton, but her squad was red-hot from that point onward winning four straight.

“When you’re kind of on your last legs you can’t give up anything and you’ve got to go for it all and that’s exactly what we did,” Muirhead said. “The girls played great. I think all of us have had a good week here.”

Muirhead was in tough in the rematch against the defending champion Lawton during Saturday’s semifinals and rebounded with steals of two in the eighth and one in the extra end to win 6-5.

“We got stronger as the tournament has gone on and when you’re out here at the Players’ Championship, you’re playing the 15 best teams in the world and you can’t have slack games,” Muirhead said. “You know it’s going to be an uphill battle. I think we fought well and at the end of the day we came out champions.” 

Meanwhile, Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., scored two in the eighth end to top Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen in the Players’ Championship men’s final.

NOTES: Rachel Homan won the Rogers Masters of Curling title earlier this season and had a chance to earn a $100,000 bonus if her team also claimed the Players’ Championship but her Ottawa club fell to Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones in Saturday’s quarterfinals. … John Morris held the record for the youngest skip to win a Grand Slam of Curling title previously when he captured the Players’ Championship at age 25 in 2004. … The Grand Slam of Curling returns in the fall with the Masters kicking off the 2013-14 campaign Oct. 29 to Nov. 3 in Abbotsford, B.C.