News Masters

Koe defeats Brunner to climb into win column at WFG Masters

OAKVILLE, Ont. — Calgary’s Team Kevin Koe picked up their first win of the WFG Masters with a 7-5 victory over Team Michael Brunner from Switzerland during Draw 9 action Thursday morning at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex.

Koe improved to a 1-2 record to keep his team’s chances of remaining in contention alive with one round-robin game remaining. Brunner dropped to 0-3 and has been eliminated early.

Meanwhile, Calgary’s Team Brendan Bottcher are in good standing at 3-0 following a 7-4 victory over Saskatoon’s Team Colton Flasch (1-2).

Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin climbed to 3-0 as well scoring three in the seventh and stealing one in the eighth to beat Scotland’s Team Ross Whyte 6-4.

Edin remains out with a lower-body injury with third Oskar Eriksson, who skipped the squad to the HearingLife Tour Challenge men’s title in October, calling the shots.

It was the first loss for Whyte, who is now at 2-1.

Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz moved up to a 2-1 record with a 7-6 win over Switzerland’s Team Marco Hösli (0-3).

UP NEXT

The WFG Masters continues with Draw 10 at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet, Sportsnet NOW (Canada) and Yare (international).

NOTES

The WFG Masters is the third event of the 2022-23 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday as teams play four games against opponents outside of their pools. … The top eight teams overall advance to Saturday afternoon’s quarterfinals. The semifinals are set for Saturday evening with both finals on tap for Sunday.