News Masters

TRURO, N.S. — Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen jumped out to a 2-0 record in the Masters thanks to a sensational shot to lift his team past Halifax’s Shawn Adams on Wednesday night.

McEwen trailed by one coming home but held the hammer and nailed a takeout to erase three counters and score four points in the 7-4 victory. 

“Thank God I have good sweepers,” McEwen said with a sigh of relief. “I threw it kind of how I wanted to. I was really fortunate the guys made a hell of a lot of shots in front of me to give me a shot to win. I threw it pretty good and the guys had a go on it but wow did they play a really good end in front of me to set that up. Pretty nice to finish off a game like that because Adams played pretty well too so that was a battle.”

McEwen swept past Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock 7-1 in the early afternoon draw. Adams dropped to 0-2.

Meanwhile, Ottawa’s Rachel Homan also picked up a pair of wins Wednesday to start off strong out of the gate in her quest to win her third Masters championship in four years.

Homan defeated Silvana Tirinzoni of Switzerland 5-3 in a rematch of last month’s Tour Challenge Tier 1 final during Draw 5 to follow up on a 7-2 victory over Tracy Fleury of Sudbury, Ont., in the afternoon.

“It’s a great way to start and we’re getting to learn the ice,” Team Homan second Joanne Courtney said. “The surface is great, we’re just trying to learn the ice and the rocks and put some shots together so we’re really happy with the result today.”

Tirinzoni, who earned her first career Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling title at the Tour Challenge, is now at 1-1.

Brad Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., joined McEwen at the top of the men’s leaderboard improving to 2-0 as well with a 6-3 win over Glenn Howard of Penetanguishene, Ont. Gushue broke a 2-2 tie with a deuce in three and stole a point in five to lead by three. The teams alternated singles through the sixth and seventh ends and Gushue ran Howard (1-1) out of rocks in eight. 

Elsewhere, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers edged Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., 7-6 after making an open hit to score one in the extra end. Both teams are even with 1-1 records. 

Scotland’s Eve Muirhead also won a close one scoring a single in the eighth to beat Winnipeg’s Kristy McDonald 5-4. Both teams are now at 1-1.

NOTES: The Masters is the second stop on the seven-event 2015-16 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling schedule and runs through to Sunday at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre. … TV coverage of the Masters begins Thursday at 11 a.m. ET / 8 a.m. PT on Sportsnet.