Martin erases early deficit to edge Stoughton for BDO Curling Classic title
HAMILTON, Ont. — Edmonton’s Kevin Martin erased a five-point deficit to complete a comeback and beat Winnipeg’s Jeff Stoughton 10-9 to win the BDO Curling Classic title Sunday.
Martin and his 2002 Olympic silver medal teammates of third Don Walchuk, second Carter Rycroft and lead Don Bartlett took home $30,000 of the $100,000 prize purse.
“Man, we hung in there,” Martin said in a World Curling Tour release. “This is a huge win with us chasing an Olympic Trials spot. It’s huge.”
Stoughton jumped out to a big five-point advantage early when Martin’s last shot of the first picked to give his opponent an easy open draw for five points.
Martin bounced back counting three in the fourth.
“Well, you’re never really out of it that early,” Martin said, “but if there’s one more bad end, then we’re dead. That three-ender was big. All of a sudden you’re thinking it’s not over, you’re not out of it.”
Stoughton scored a deuce in the eighth and led 9-8 with two ends left to play. Martin settled for a single in the ninth to tie it up and stole the winning point in the 10th after Stoughton’s final draw attempt to the eight-foot circle rolled away heavy.
The team of Stoughton, third Jon Mead, second Garry Van Den Berghe and lead Steve Gould took home $18,000.
Martin and Stoughton denied a Howard vs. Howard brother battle for the title at Hamilton’s Glendale Golf & Country Club. Stoughton ousted Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., 8-5 in the semifinals while Martin eliminated Moncton’s Russ Howard 5-3 in the other final four match.
Russ Howard competed in his first Grand Slam of Curling event since the series formed in 2001-02.
“For me, it was the 1993 deja vu Brier,” Russ Howard said. “Vic Peters, Rick Folk, Kerry Burtnyk, Ed Werenich. Even Kevin Martin, I’ve only played him about 600 times as well. It was like a reunion and it was kinda neat. And we beat a lot of them, too.”
Both Howard teams claimed $12,000 each.
The BDO Curling Classic was the first leg of the four-event 2004-05 Grand Slam of Curling season. The next stop is the Masters running Dec. 9-12 in Humboldt, Sask.
