News Masters

Brendan Bottcher begins his chase for a fourth consecutive Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling men’s event title battling Mike McEwen in the opening draw of the Masters in North Bay, Ont.

The Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling announced Tuesday the match schedule for its first event of the 2019-20 season running Oct. 22-27 at North Bay Memorial Gardens.

Bottcher and his Edmonton-based club will look to pick up where they left off from last season after winning their first three event titles in the series at the Meridian Canadian Open, Players’ Championship and Humpty’s Champions Cup.

“It would be pretty exciting if we could keep the streak rolling,” Bottcher said earlier this month during the Shorty Jenkins Classic tour event. “We’ll certainly give it a good try and I’m excited to get back out there.”

Also in action on opening night: reigning Pinty’s Cup women’s champions Team Rachel Homan of Ottawa face Japan’s Team Sayaka Yoshimura; Team Jennifer Jones take on Team Theresa Cannon in an all-Winnipeg battle; Team Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., goes up against Regina’s Team Matt Dunstone; and world women’s champions Team Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland meet Edmonton’s Team Kelsey Rocque.

To see the full draw schedule, CLICK HERE.

The first major of the 2019-20 season includes 15 of the top men’s teams and 15 of the top women’s teams from around the globe based on the World Curling Tour’s Order of Merit rankings. Team Anna Hasselborg of Sweden and Toronto’s Team John Epping, both ranked No. 2 in the world, are the reigning Masters champions and return for an opportunity to defend their titles.

Both divisions are split into three pools of five teams based on the WCT rankings for round-robin play (four games each). The top eight overall advance to the playoffs.

Teams will compete for a $300,000 combined purse plus points for the Pinty’s Cup, which is awarded to the season champions in the series following the conclusion of the Players’ Championship. Masters title winners also earn berths to the season-ending Humpty’s Champions Cup, April 29 – May 3, 2020, in Olds, Alta.

Full-event and weekend passes plus single-draw tickets for the Masters are available, visit thegrandslamofcurling.com/tickets for more information.

Broadcast coverage begins Oct. 24 at Noon ET / 9 a.m. PT on Sportsnet and Sportsnet NOW.