Aye ... Scotland Masters another major in Grand Slam of Curling series
This time, it's Ross Whyte breaking out from the shadow of countryman Bruce Mouat with a win over Brad Jacobs in Sunday's finale
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Seems like Scotland has got the hang of this curling thing.
At the very least, they are masters again on the grand slam scene.
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Aye ... Scotland Masters another major in Grand Slam of Curling series Back to video
That after the other crew from Sterling, UK — Ross Whyte, not Bruce Mouat — came up victorious at the World Financial Group Masters event Sunday.
Whyte’s 5-4 edge of Canada’s Brad Jacobs in the WFG Masters men’s final follows in the footsteps of compatriot Mouat’s three straight triumphs in each of the 2024-25 previous Grand Slam of Curling stops.
Aye … the Scots know what they’re doing.
“We’ve worked so hard,” skip Whyte told Sportsnet, moments after the Masters finale in Guelph, Ont. “We’ve felt we’ve played really well this year and a couple of the results haven’t gone our way.
“So to get this is just unbelievable.”
Mouat’s run this year has been unbelievable, as he pitched wins in each of the HearingLife Tour Challenge, the Co-op Canadian Open and the KIOTI National to monopolize the men’s GSOC side where titles are concerned.
But his run to a remarkable fourth straight was derailed by Jacobs and his Calgary crew in Saturday’s late semifinal.
However, Whyte made sure to retain the slam crown for Scotland with the win in the finale.
After blanks in the first and third ends, forcing each team to take one in the second and fourth, the teams swapped deuces in the fifth — for Jacobs — and sixth ends — for Whyte.
Then in the seventh, Jacobs was forced to take one to give Whyte the hammer coming home.
With continued flawless curling in the final end, Whyte executed a nice tap-back of an opposition rock to count two and collect the Masters victory.
“Pretty amazing,” Whyte told Sportsnet. “We were just hoping we’d get a chance. Those boys (from Calgary’s Glencoe Curling Club) are so good. And the fact we got a chance in the end to get a shot in the end and we made it was unreal.”
Call it a breakthrough moment for skip Whyte, third Robin Brydone — who was a marvel in the eighth and deciding end Sunday — second Duncan McFazean and lead Euan Kyle, who have been lurking in the shadows of dominant Mouat until these Masters.
“Hopefully, we kick on from this,” added Whyte. “We’ve got our Scottish nationals next, so hopefully we go there and have a good week and come back for the (GSOC’s) Players’ Championship (in April) and give it everything.
“But hopefully, Scottish dominance continues.”
Canada’s Rachel Homan was hoping for continued dominance of her own with a win in the Masters women’s final Sunday afternoon.
But the decorated skip and her Ottawa Curling Club rink lost 7-5 to Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg.
Homan was hoping to capture a third straight GSOC event, after winning the KIOTI National, last month’s GSOC major and the Co-op Canadian Open.
However, Hasselborg halted that bid.
“I’m so happy — it means the world to us,” Hasselborg told Sportsnet, moments after avenging the 6-5 loss to Homan in the KIOTI National. “This is definitely proof of all the hard work we have done.”
The world-class rivals were tied 2-2, 4-4 and 5-5 after the second, fifth and seventh ends respectively, setting up the deciding eighth, in which Homan’s attempt to freeze with her last stone overcurled, leaving Hasselborg with what looked like the counter in the eight-foot circle.
No matter, because the Swedish skip drew the final rock into the four-foot to ensure the victory.
The lineup of Hasselborg, third Sara McManus, second Agnes Knochenhauer and lead Sofia Mabergs finished with a perfect 7-0 record in earning the Masters victory.
Road to glory
A half-dozen more reps were decided over the weekend for the country’s national championships.
On the Scotties trail
• Nova Scotia’s Christina Black is returning to the party for a fourth straight Scotties — and seventh overall Hearts appearance — after Sunday’s provincial victory.
It was a 6-4 decision early Sunday for the Halifax Curling Club team — comprised of skip Black, third Jillian Brothers, second Jennifer Baxter, lead Karlee Everist, alternate Marlee Powers and coach Stuart MacLean — over Mackenzie Mitchell.
• Kerry Galusha capped a 3-1 series win over Betti Delorey with Sunday’s 12-0 no-doubter in the Northwest Territories provincial championship.
Galusha, who will make her 22nd Scotties appearance — this year — with third Megan Koehler, second Sydney Galusha, lead Shona Barbour and alternate Ella Skauge of the Yellowknife Curling Club, rebounded from an 11-6 first-game loss to win 11-6, 11-4 and 12-0.
• Quebec’s Laurie St-Georges returns to the Scotties, as well, after downing Emilia Gagné 9-2 in Sunday’s provincial final, with deuces in the first, fifth and seventh ends.
The Glenmore/Laval-sur-le-Lac CCs rink features skip St-Georges, third Jamie Sinclair, second Emily Riley and decorated lead Lisa Weagle.
For St-Georges, of Laval, Que., this will mark her fifth consecutive Scotties appearance.
• Melissa Adams returns to rep New Brunswick at the Scotties after defending her provincial title over the weekend.
The Fredericton skip racked up a 7-0 record — capped by late Saturday’s 8-6 edge of Justine Comeau — in the triple-knockout provincial playdowns spiel to earn her sixth visit to the national final.
The Capital Winter Club team is comprised of skip Adams, third Jaclyn Crandall, second Kayla Russell, lead Kendra Lister, alternate Molli Ward and coach Alex Robichaud.
On the Brier path
• Québec is sending Félix Asselin to the Brier after a 9-3 final win over Robert Desjardins on Sunday.
Skip Asselin, third Jean-Michel Ménard, second Martin Crete and lead Jean-Francois Trépanier represent the Glenmore, Belvédère, Des Collines, Etchemin and Valleyfield curling clubs.
It’s a fifth visit to the Brier for Asselin, who has won four of the last five provincial crowns.
• Nova Scotia will be repped by Owen Purcell, a new-to-the-Brier squad from the Halifax Curling Club.
With deuces in each of the fifth, sixth and eighth ends, Purcell and his rink of third Luke Saunders, second Scott Saccary, lead Ryan Abraham and coach Colleen Jones defeated Kendall Thompson 8-5 in the provincial finale Sunday afternoon.
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