News Tour Challenge

PARADISE, N.L. — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., sent the crowd home happy with a 7-3 victory in six ends over Scotland’s David Murdoch during a soldout Draw 5 Wednesday night at the Tour Challenge.

Gushue bounced back from an opening draw loss to Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers taking charge out of the gate scoring deuces in the first and third ends and adding a three-ender in the fifth that had the crowd roaring all night. Murdoch was held to singles in two, four and six and shook hands early.

Both teams now hold 1-1 records in the round-robin of the opening event on the 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. 

“It was awesome,” said Mark Nichols, who throws third for Team Gushue. “It was a better result than last night and actually gave the crowd something to cheer about.”

Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen managed to grab two points in the final end to edge out Toronto’s John Epping 6-5. McEwen climbed to a 2-0 record after also squeaking past Peter de Cruz of Switzerland 3-2 earlier Wednesday. Epping’s record is even at 1-1. 

Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock got a point in the eighth to hold off Sven Michel of Switzerland for a 7-6 victory. Laycock improved to a 1-1 record while Michel fell to 0-2.

In the women’s division, Silvana Tirinzoni took down reigning world champion Alina Paetz 7-1 in six ends during an all-Swiss matchup. Tirinzoni led 2-1 through three and padded her lead with a three-ender in four followed by single steals in the fifth and sixth ends. Both teams now hold 1-1 records. 

Sherry Middaugh of Coldwater, Ont., broke a tie with a deuce in the sixth followed by a steal of one in the seventh to win 4-1 over Moscow’s Anna Sidorova. Middaugh is 2-0 in pool play and Sidorova is 0-2.

NOTES: The Tour Challenge is the first of two new tournaments on the expanded seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s GSOC season and features 30 men’s and 30 women’s teams split into two tiers. … Winners of the Tier 1 divisions also receive berths to the second new Pinty’s GSOC event, the season-ending Champions Cup. … Tier 2 champions earn byes to the next Grand Slam, the Masters, running Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 in Truro, N.S. … Television coverage of the Tour Challenge starts Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet.