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Bruce Mouat’s team was already No. 1 in the world entering the HearingLife Tour Challenge, but the Scottish squad’s title victory provided some insurance at the top of the rankings.

Team Mouat defeated Canada’s Team Brad Gushue 10-3 during Sunday’s Tier 1 men’s final in the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season at Charlottetown’s Bell Aliant Centre.

Mouat, who had led Team Joël Retornaz by only 0.2 points, now has an advantage of 74.9 points over new No. 2 Gushue, whose team jumped ahead of the Italian club.

“The No. 1 world spot, I think we had it for maybe two weeks back in 2021, so to now actually solidify it and put some distance between us and some of the other teams, it’s really nice,” said Mouat, whose team posted a perfect 6-0 record in the event. “Hopefully, we can continue the whole season at No. 1 but that’s obviously a tough task, so we’re going to have to keep concentrating, come back out and try to win the next one.”

Mouat’s fellow countrymen Team James Craik moved up three spots to No. 11 by qualifying for the playoffs.

Canada’s Team Rylan Kleiter was the biggest mover among the top teams, rising six spots to No. 16, after capturing the HearingLife Tour Challenge Tier 2 men’s title. Team Kleiter went 6-0 through the tournament including a 6-5 win over Norway’s Team Magnus Ramfjell in an extra end during the final.

Meanwhile, Canada’s Team Kerri Einarson climbed five spots in the women’s division to No. 5 after winning the Tier 1 title.

Einarson edged No. 1 Team Rachel Homan 5-4 in the all-Canadian final.

Japan’s Team Satsuki Fujisawa scaled four spots to No. 7 by reaching the semifinals.

Several Japanese clubs saw positive gains through Tier 2 including Team Momoha Tabata (No. 13, plus-six spots) and Team Sayaka Yoshimura (No. 14, plus-six spots). Both qualified for the playoffs with Yoshimura defeating Tabata in the semis before losing to Canada’s Team Christina Black in the final.

South Korea’s Team Seung-youn Ha (No. 16) and Canada’s Team Kayla Skrlik (No. 17) were also big movers ascending five places in the rankings.

Ha reached the semifinals losing to eventual champion Black.

Although Skrlik missed the playoffs, teams can now count three of their best results to their total points. Skrlik finished runner-up at the Stu Sells Oakville Tankard and PointsBet Invitational and reached the semifinals of the AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic.