Gushue, Jacobs to clash in Players’ Championship men’s final
TORONTO — Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., extended his Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling winning streak to 13 games and is now just one more victory away from completing a career Grand Slam.
Gushue scored three sets of deuces to defeat Scotland’s David Murdoch 6-2 to advance to the Players’ Championship men’s final against Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. The defending champion Jacobs beat Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-3 in the quarterfinals.
Team Gushue, winners of the National and Elite 10 this season, will play a fifth final through six events in the series and already clinched Rogers Grand Slam Cup to earn a $75,000 bonus.
Gushue opened with the hammer and converted for a deuce in the first. Murdoch, who was playing in his first Grand Slam semifinal, blanked the second and settled for a single in the third. It was all Gushue in the second half scoring another deuce in five, holding Murdoch to another single in six, and tacking two more points on the board in seven.
Meanwhile, McEwen got on the board first stealing a point in the opening end when Jacobs was heavy on a draw. McEwen crashed on a guard in the third and Jacobs capitalized to ease his final stone to the button for a deuce.
The six-time Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title winner McEwen fell into trouble in the fourth end facing two counters and attempted a risky runback on a guard to get the blank. McEwen was off on the angle, however, and things went from bad to worse as he promoted Jacobs’ guard into the house to give up a steal of three. McEwen’s woes continued in the fifth end handing Jacobs a steal of one when his angle raise didn’t run back the counter shot rock far enough.
McEwen bounced back drawing for two in the sixth but shook hands after Jacobs added another single in seven.
Team Jacobs hasn’t won on tour this season and needs to successfully defend the Players’ Championship in order to earn the final berth for the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup.
The women’s final will see five-time Players’ Championship winner Jennifer Jones of Winnipeg go up against defending champion Scotland’s Eve Muirhead. Jones defeated Kerri Einarson 6-4 in an all-Manitoba matchup and Muirhead scored a 7-2 win over Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland.
The Tour Challenge Tier 2 winner Einarson held the hammer coming home down by one and had a chance to score two for the win but needed to throw through a narrow port and crashed on the guard as Jones added a single steal to prevail.
Muirhead, who also won the Players’ Championship in 2013, made a double to score three points in the second, added another trey in the fourth and stole one in the fifth. Tirinzoni, the Tour Challenge Tier 1 winner, was limited to singles in three and six.
The women’s final starts at 1:30 p.m. ET (Sportsnet 360) with the men’s final at 5 p.m. ET (Sportsnet ONE).
