News Masters

Brent Laing certainly knows a thing or two about what it takes to win the Masters.

Laing captured six Masters titles with Team Glenn Howard and now looks for a record seventh with his current squad Team Kevin Koe.

The Calgary-based team has momentum heading into the Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling event after winning the season-opening Tour Challenge in Paradise, N.L.

“It’s definitely good for the psyche, good for the confidence and hopefully you build on that and get on a roll,” Laing said. “We left there super-excited that we had won and knowing that there are a few things we could do better. We’re back to some serious practice and working on the things we need to work on to get better. It’s motivating too when you win that, you want to win more. It’s great.”

Although the members of Team Koe had won a combined 36 Pinty’s GSOC titles prior to joining forces last season, the Tour Challenge championship was their first all together and Laing said it was a boost for them.

“Any time you can win a big event it just proves that you can do it. We all knew we could and the four of us have won lots of Grand Slams even at our positions, Marc having won the Players’ Championship at third, but until you do it, doubt starts to creep in,” Laing said. “We had a bit of an interesting year last year. We didn’t always play our best but a bunch of times we did and some guys made some pretty crazy shots against us to beat us. It’s just one of those things where if things could go wrong it seemed to go wrong.

“Then when we were out in Paradise, any time we needed the big shot Kevin made numerous huge shots to keep us in the final. He made a big shot against Team Bottcher to get us back in that game in the quarterfinals. It just seemed like things were going our way when we needed it. Curling is a funny game. We played that well. As well as we did that week in Newfoundland, we played a handful of bonspiels that well last year and didn’t get very good results. This year we go and things fall into place.”

Although Laing believes it’s a coincidence he’s earned six Masters titles, he still recalls winning his first one in late 2006 fondly as Team Howard defeated Randy Ferbey’s team in Waterloo, Ont.

“We had never won a Grand Slam as a team so that was a big one,” Laing said. “In the first end, their team dominated us and Glenn made about a 20-foot, like literally just over the hogline, runback to stick for two and I remember Ferbey just giggling and saying, ‘I guess we’ve got to do better than that.’ Then the game kind of went our way from there so it was a good game.”

“That one’s special,” Laing added. “That’s always one I’ll remember, the first one you win, for sure.”

Laing has captured a total of 14 Pinty’s GSOC championships — with only the likes of Kevin Martin, Glenn Howard and Wayne Middaugh ahead of him on the all-time list — and he said each one means something especially as the years pass and the history of the series builds.

“Every Grand Slam has sentimental value to me as they continue to grow and you can see the excitement rise every time someone wins a Slam now, the celebration is getting more and more aggressive I guess,” Laing said with a bit of a laugh. “It means more and more to teams. In the previous years when they first started it was big money and guys loved winning them, they were always the best events to play in and they’re super-exciting to win as well, they’re so hard to win, but they’re gaining history. Like anything, the longer it goes, the more history there is, the more you can look back and see who’s won what and who’s won how many.

“The Masters, obviously with that same name in golf, it’s a cool name for a major tournament and for me personally it means a lot because it’s one that we’ve always had success in but every Grand Slam we go into, especially the four majors, we really get geared up and want to play our best.”

As the Pinty’s GSOC continues to expand — from five events to seven for this season and up to eight next year — Laing has seen the importance of winning these tournaments rise among his colleagues.

“You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to watch a Grand Slam final or a semifinal or a quarterfinal and when a big shot comes through and the reaction of all four guys as a team compared to five years ago or 10 years ago where guys were still excited but now it’s meaning more and more,” Laing said. “There’s more on the line, guys are putting more into it. Curling is becoming more and more professional, to put it simply, so when things go your way and when things don’t it’s extra disappointing because of the time and effort you put in. The Slams are on a great track and we’re super-lucky to have them.”

Laing gave full credit to the original 18 teams who sacrificed their personal goals to help found the series and shape it into what it’s become today.

“I think every now and again we’ve got to remember who made these happy for us, the original 18,” Laing said. “I think Glenn’s the last man standing. Glenn, Rich (Hart) and Wayne, they’re all on the same team. I’m sure I’m missing somebody but every now and again, I hope the young guys especially know that the reason they get to play in these amazing events is because of that group of people, that group of curlers, who wanted to create something great and I think it’s become everything they dreamt of and hopefully it’s becoming something even more.”

It might come as a surprise to some curling fans though that Laing’s teammates Marc Kennedy and Ben Hebert — who won just about everything when they played with Kevin Martin — are still looking for their first Masters championship.

“The Masters usually fell earlier in the year and I know Kevin always had those quotes, ‘Well you know Team McEwen can win all of the events early in the year and when things get going that’s when Team Martin gets going,’ kind of thing,” Laing said. “It’s not that they were slow starters, they won lots of spiels early too, but it happened to be that the Masters was one that they didn’t win.

“It’s just a bit of an anomaly, obviously, they probably do know that. Kevin was a stats guy and they follow the Slams and guys are starting to pay attention to who has won what and which Slams they have and haven’t won in the career Grand Slam. All those things that you know about in golf in years past is becoming more common in curling for guys to follow that.”

Laing added with a laugh, “I’m sure that Ben and Marc know they haven’t won it and if they don’t know I’m sure I’ll remind them now.”

The Pinty’s GSOC Masters runs Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 at the Rath Eastlink Community Centre in Truro, N.S.