News Players' Championship

TORONTO — Reigning world champs Brad Gushue and Rachel Homan picked up where they left off opening the WestJet Players’ Championship in the win column.

Gushue, of St. John’s, N.L., took down Edmonton’s Brendan Bottcher 7-2 during Tuesday night’s first draw of the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling tournament while the Ottawa native Homan defeated China’s Bingyu Wang 6-3.

Both Gushue and Homan posted perfect 13-0 records en route to their respective world titles.

For Gushue, the victory over Bottcher came roughly 48 hours after earning his gold medal Sunday night in Edmonton. Being a world champion hasn’t quite sunk in yet for second Brett Gallant.

“It’s pretty exciting,” Gallant said. “It’s been a whirlwind of a month with the Brier and the worlds. We’re kind of just running that high right now and hopefully we can run it for another week here because this is an important event.”

Team Homan third Emma Miskew is also having trouble trying to process the fact she’s a world champion after picking up the title late last month in Beijing.

“Sometimes I’m like “Yeah!” and then other times I forget, then remember again and get excited,” she said. “It’s tough because in another event it’s down to business again so we’re just trying to go out there and play. World champion, knowing that’s on my resume now, it’s very nice.”

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Gushue opened with hammer and made a tap for just a single while facing a bundle. He swiped two points in the second when Bottcher flashed on his last. The pressure was on in the third end with Bottcher facing five counters. He hit the shot rock, but it jammed and stuck around to count for another steal as Gushue went up by four.

Bottcher cut the deficit in half drawing for one in the fourth and stealing a point in five, but Gushue scored a deuce in six to reclaim the four-point advantage. It was handshakes after seven as Bottcher clipped a counter with his last to give up another steal.

“The back-end played really well,” Gallant said. “Brad made a lot of good shots. It wasn’t my best game, personally, but we made the right ones and pulled out a win, so that’s nice.”

The team of Gushue, Gallant, third Mark Nichols and lead Geoff Walker also picked up where they left off at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre. It was here in this very arena where they won the Players’ Championship last year running the table to an 8-0 record.

“We have great memories from last year,” Gallant said. “Obviously it’s probably the toughest event of the year to win because you’ve got the 12 best teams of the season, so we’re going to have to play really well. Hopefully we have one more left in us.”

Homan also jumped out to an early lead going up 3-0 with a single in the first followed by a steal of two in the second. Wang was limited to one point in three and Homan scored a deuce in four to make it 5-1 at the break.

The 2009 world champion Wang matched with a pair in five. Homan tacked on another one in six, Wang blanked the seventh and ran out of rocks in eight.

“It was a little sloppy for our first game, but we’re just getting used to the ice conditions,” Miskew said. “It’s hard for everyone out there, so we’re happy to come out with a W and keep things rolling.”

Homan, second Joanne Courtney and lead Lisa Weagle were on the ice last weekend as well competing in the Canadian mixed double championship. Courtney paired up with Reid Carruthers to capture the title defeating Homan and John Morris in the final.

While adding a Players’ Championship trophy would be nice, Miskew said they’re fighting a bit of fatigue and are just taking it rock-by-rock.

“We’re a little tired so we’re just trying to get back,” said Miskew, a five-time Grand Slam champion. “The girls just got back from mixed doubles, so we’re just trying to go out there and go with the flow and try to throw one shot at a time, so we’re not really thinking about the end goal of winning.

“We’ve won a bunch of Grand Slams at this point … it’s not really that different from the other ones. It would just be nice to get to win that one also. Again, we’re coming off of a pretty big high right now so we’re just trying to keep rolling.”

Elsewhere, Edmonton’s Val Sweeting edged double defending champ Eve Muirhead of Scotland 6-5. Muirhead’s former teammate Kelly Schafer is back in the lineup filling in for injured lead Lauren Gray.

Scotland’s Kyle Smith thumped Toronto’s John Epping 8-2 and Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock beat world bronze medallist Peter de Cruz of Switzerland 7-4.

Round-robin action at the WestJet Players’ Championship continues Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. ET with TV coverage starting Thursday at Noon ET on Sportsnet.

NOTES: The WestJet Players’ Championship is the fourth major and sixth event of the 2016-17 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season. … The Rogers Grand Slam Cup will be awarded to the overall season champions following the conclusion of the tournament. … Winners of the WestJet Players’ Championship will earn berths to the Humpty’s Champions Cup running April 25-30 in Calgary.