 Scotland's Team Bruce Mouat (photo: Anil Mungal, GSOC) have made history in Canada once again as the first overseas men's team to complete a full set of victories in the original Grand Slam of Curling events by claiming the Co-Op Canadian Open title in Red Deer, Alberta. Bruce Mouat, Grant Hardie, Bobby Lammie and Hammy McMillan had previously won The Masters, The National and The Players' Championship and with five previous victories in all were already the most successful non-Canadian team in Grand Slam history. As when they beat Canada's Team Gushue in front of their home support to win the World Championships final last year, their triumph was all the more impressive because they were once again up against home favourites playing in front of their local fans in the tournament decider in Alberta's world number two ranked Team Bottcher 6-5. The final score was 6-5, but the Scottish quartet had control from the outset and were never headed. "It's been a while since we've been in a Slam final, so it felt really nice to be back and playing well this week," said skip Mouat. "The boys and I were pretty solid throughout the competition. "We took advantage of any misses we got and put some pressure on our opposition, which is exactly what we needed to do to get back onto the podium." No Scottish men's team having contested a Grand Slam final before Team Mouat claimed their first title win at The National in 2017, they have repeatedly set new standards in what is a fiercely competitive environment, playing for the biggest purses in the sport.
"It's really special to be the first non-Canadian team to win a full set of the original Slams," said Mouat. "It was never a target of mine, but when we started to get closer it was something you started to look at. "It feels amazing that we're in the same group as some amazing teams that have come before us, players we used to watch when we were growing up." The inspiration they have provided for the domestic game was demonstrated by the presence of three Scottish teams in the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the second successive time as they were joined by Team Whyte and Team Craik, both of whom they had to beat to reach the final. In all the Scottish teams lost only four matches in the competition, three of those in all-Scottish ties, with Mouat beating James Craik's men in both the round-robin stages and the quarter-final, before handing Ross Whyte's rink their only defeat in the semi-finals after they, too, came through their pool unbeaten, before beating world number one ranked Team Retornaz in the quarter-finals. "There were a lot of really tough games in our week, but leading up to our Scottish Championships it was good to play against Scottish teams at a Slam and it's been good to see so many Scottish teams doing well over here." said Mouat. "We had three Scottish teams in the quarter-finals for the second time now, both in one season, so we must be doing something right back home if there's that many teams doing well. "It's going to be a busy end to our season and the boys and I are fully focused on winning the Scottish Championship again. "We now know winning that will help give us the berth at the World Championships, but it's going to be tough because there are so many good teams in Scotland now that we can't take anything for granted." His point was reinforced across Atlantic as Team Bryce beat fellow Scots Team Waddell 5-2 to successfully defend their St Galler Elite Challenge title in Switzerland, both having won all four of their pool matches before winning quarter and semi-finals to set up that clash in the final. |
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World number three ranked Gyeonggi Province's Gim Eun-ji (Photo: Curling1spoon) defend their national title in a thrilling extra end final Monday in Uijeongbu.
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