Mouat shuts out Jacobs to start Princess Auto Players’ Championship
TORONTO — Team Bruce Mouat of Scotland scored a 9-0 rout over Winnipeg’s Team Brad Jacobs to kick off the Princess Auto Players’ Championship on Tuesday at the Mattamy Athletic Centre.
Mouat and his crew came straight from the world men’s curling championship in Schaffhausen, Switzerland, to the season finale event and looking to regroup from a tough loss to Italy’s Team Joël Retornaz in Sunday’s bronze medal match.
“We want to come here and try to prove ourselves again,” Mouat said. “We felt like we were better than our semi [against Canada’s Team Brad Gushue] and the bronze that we played. We’re coming here to hopefully do better.”
After back-to-back blanks to start, the six-time Grand Slam men’s champion Mouat tapped for two points in the third end and stole four points in the fourth after Jacobs missed his last. Jacobs came up light on his final rock of the fifth to concede three more points and shook hands early.
“It’s nice to be back in Toronto and playing in the Players’,” said Mouat, a two-time winner at the event. “It’s always nice to have this towards the end of the season and really cap off what’s been a nice season.”
Elsewhere in Draw 1, Team Ross Whyte downed Team James Craik 6-1 in a repeat of the Scottish curling championships men’s final.
“We knew it was going to be tough against those boys,” Whyte said. “They’re a very good team and there’s a reason why they’re at this competition. I’m very please to win the first game.”
Whyte has had a brilliant season reaching his first Grand Slam of Curling final at the WFG Masters in December and capturing his first national title in February.
“It’d be nice just to finish off on a high, try to go on a good run again at the Grand Slams,” Whyte said. “That’s what you need to do and hopefully it ends in a good week and potentially a good result.”
Craig Waddell is filling in this week for Team Whyte lead Euan Kyle, who is recovering from an injury.
“We like to be our full team but when circumstances happen it’s great we have so much talent in Scotland we can just bring another player and he can slot in absolutely great,” Whyte said. “So, hopefully, nothing changes dynamic-wise and we just keep going.”
In women’s play, Isabella Wranå and her Swedish squad opened their title defence with a 9-2 victory over Winnipeg’s Team Jennifer Jones.
It’s the final Grand Slam for Jones, who is retiring from women’s curling following the event.
South Korea’s Team Eun-Jung Kim scored two in the eighth end to edge Switzerland’s Team Xenia Schwaller 4-3.
PRINCESS AUTO PLAYERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP: Live Scores | Draw Schedule | Broadcast Schedule
UP NEXT
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship continues with Draw 2 at 3 p.m. ET. Tickets are available at the Mattamy Athletic Centre box office and online at Ticketmaster.ca.
Broadcast coverage begins with Draw 9 Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET on Sportsnet, Sportsnet+ (Canada) and gsoclive.com (international).
NOTES
The Princess Auto Players’ Championship is the fifth and final Grand Slam of Curling event of the 2023-24 season featuring the top 12 men’s teams and top 12 women’s teams from around the world. … Both divisions are split into two pools of six for round-robin play. The best six teams advance to the playoffs with the top two teams receiving byes to the semifinals. If necessary, one tiebreaker round will be played Saturday morning to determine the final playoff berths. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with the finals on tap Sunday.
