Homan defeats Carey to win 1st women’s Masters
BRANTFORD, Ont. — Ottawa’s Rachel Homan captured her first career Grand Slam of Curling title following an 8-3 victory over Winnipeg’s Chelsea Carey in the final of the inaugural women’s Rogers Masters event Sunday at the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre.
Homan’s rink — featuring third Emma Miskew, second Alison Kreviazuk and lead Lisa Weagle — finished the Masters undefeated with a perfect 8-0 record and earned $20,500. They are now halfway to claiming the $100,000 bonus should they also win the season-ending Players’ Championship in April.
“We’ve been doing really well on the Slam side of the events, but it’s nice to finally win a final,” Homan said. “I think we picked the right one to win and this is just an amazing feeling.”
Homan settled for a single in the second to open the scoring and went ahead 3-0 with a steal of two in the third when Carey wrecked on a guard.
Team Carey got on the board in the fourth when Homan missed on the double in four and Carey eased her final shot in for a deuce. Homan made an open hit to match with two in the fifth and maintain the three-point advantage at 5-2.
Carey faced six counters in the sixth end but made the draw for the single. Homan called a timeout before her final shot in seven and coach Earle Morris convinced her to go for the double to ice the game. Homan nailed the runback to count three and the two teams shook hands.
Earlier Sunday morning, Homan scored three in the eight to edge Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 5-4 in the semifinals while Carey topped Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni 7-3.
The Masters has been held annually since 2002 as a men’s invitational. This year’s event marked the first time a women’s champion was crowned.
