Jacobs wins first Grand Slam title at Players’ Championship
TORONTO — For Team Brad Jacobs, it was the fourth time that was the charm.
Playing in their fourth Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling final, the Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., crew captured their first major together at the season-ending Players’ Championship.
Jacobs stole the winning point in the eighth end to edge Winnipeg’s Team Mike McEwen 4-3 Sunday night at Ryerson’s Mattamy Athletic Centre.
“It feels phenomenal,” Team Jacobs second E.J. Harnden said. “It’s so hard to win these events and it’s the one that we’ve never won. It’s very satisfying, very rewarding and it feels great. We were joking we feel a bit like we’re Phil Mickelson of golf and now that monkey is off our back and hopefully we can win a few more.”
Jacobs, Ryan Fry, E.J. and Ryan Harnden collected $24,000 CAD for the title win plus a $75,000 CAD bonus for finishing first overall in the Rogers Grand Slam Cup men’s standings.
“It was a fantastic curling season for us,” Jacobs said. “This is the best we’ve ever played on the cashspiel circuit. I’m really proud of the way we played throughout the World Curling events this year and throughout the Grand Slam series. To pick up this last win is just huge for us.”
For Harnden, earning the Rogers Grand Slam Cup bonus was secondary to winning his first title.
“We really wanted to win our first Grand Slam. Like I said, that was the one thing kind of missing on our resume,” Harnden said. “It’s one of those things when you win, the other things come with it. First and foremost, we wanted to win our first Grand Slam and everything else beyond that is gravy.”
McEwen, B.J. Neufeld, Matt Wozniak and Denni Neufeld tore up the tour this season winning eight events on tour this season including the National in November and the Syncrude Elite 10 last month. Team McEwen looked to become the first to win all five titles in the series and entered the final with an unblemished 6-0 record.
McEwen opened with hammer but was forced to draw for just a single in the first with Jacobs lying one buried. Facing four in the second, Jacobs’ final stone ticked McEwen’s shot rock but stopped just in time to tie it. Although McEwen got a deuce in four to pull ahead 3-1, he overcurled on his final rock in the fifth allowing Jacobs to capitalize and take two of his own to tie it right back. McEwen blanked the sixth and seventh ends to hold the hammer coming home.
Jacobs’ shot rock was covered by a guard forcing McEwen to draw, but the shot was overswept and led to a steal.
“It’s one of those shots where I really expected Mike to make it but knew it was going to be a tough shot because the ice was getting a little bit frosty, a little bit fudgy, and as a sweeper I know for myself that’s a tough one to judge,” Harnden said. “It’s unfortunate to win that way and we feel for Mike, that was a tough one. I thought he threw it really well and the shot was made but in the game of curling you’ve got to take it any way you can get it and sometimes it comes out a miss. Fortunately this time it went our way.”
“I just couldn’t say enough good things about Mike and his team,” Harnden added. “I think they’ve had a phenomenal season, we’re going to play them a ton in the future, they push us to work harder and get better, and they’re a great team.”
McEwen earned $19,500 CAD for the runner-up result plus $40,000 CAD for finishing second in the overall standings. Masters and Canadian Open champion Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., finished third in the points to earn an extra $20,000 CAD.
