South Korean shocks Jones

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This article was published 26/10/2015 (3931 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Portage — EunJung Kim said she needed to minimize the mistakes she’s made in previous meetings with Jennifer Jones if she was to beat her in the final of the Canad Inns Women’s Classic Sunday.

Mission accomplished, as it were. Upset complete.

Kim, who has already won once on the World Curling Tour this year, added another notch to her belt with a 7-6 win over 2014 Olympic gold medallist Jones and her St. Vital Curling Club rink.

“Jennifer Jones is a big team, last year they were champion,” the South Korean said through an interpreter. “She’s very tough. I tried to focus more, I am very happy.”

Both rinks entered the final with 6-1 records. The only losses each team suffered in the triple-elimination event were at the hands of the team the other beat to get into the final.

Jones’ lone blemish came at the hands of Michelle Englot, the 2008 champ whom Kim beat handily in the semifinal. Kim, meanwhile, suffered defeat at the hands of Northern Ontario’s Tracy Fleury, whom Jones had to overcome in eight ends after Fleury tied the game 5-5 after lying three with her final rock in the seventh.

“This competition has so many great teams,” Kim said. “This competition is so high-level, so being the champ, (I am) very happy.”

Even after Jones jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second end, Kim, like she has done all weekend, stayed cool, calm and collected and fought her way back against arguably the best women’s curler to ever play the game.

Kim matched Jones’ second end with three stones of her own in the fourth, including a masterful final shot to lie three.

“We were down three points, and I wanted to make a successful shot,” Kim said. “I was comfortable in trying the shot.”

Jones grudgingly took a 4-3 lead in the fifth with the hammer after failing narrowly, to score two.

“I was trying to tap for two,” Jones said. “We were set up for a big end there. And when I jammed in the sixth end that probably kind of was a big turning point. I thought we had a good game, except for one bad end.”

If there was blood in the water, Kim sniffed it out in the sixth. Jones came up too strong on a hit-and-roll attempt on her first shot of the end. The door was open for Kim to go big, and she needed only to thread the needle past her own guard to apply a tap on Jones’ only rock in the eight-foot to lie four.

“They’re a great team, we knew they would play well and unfortunately there were a couple too many misses in the same end that led to a four,” Jones said

For her efforts, Kim jumped in the driver’s seat with a 7-4 lead and never looked back.

“We made some mistakes, and we have before against Jennifer,” Kim said. “She’s a great player. We wanted to focus on one end at a time, getting one point. She was sharp.”

Meanwhile, despite her disappointment, Jones, who won the event in 2013 and 2014, said she is pleased to see the growth in Asian curling.

“They’ve had a great week,” Jones said. “It’s amazing to see, especially with the Olympics being over in South Korea (in 2018). It’s been tremendous, and great for the growth of the sport over there.

“We played in Japan last year and we had so many people there watching and cheering. It’s growing like wildfire there.”

scott.billeck@freepress.mb.ca Twitter: @scottbilleck