Brad Gushue, Eve Muirhead capture Players’ Championship titles

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This article was published 17/04/2016 (3819 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TORONTO – Brad Gushue defeated defending champion Brad Jacobs 5-4 in Sunday’s men’s final to win the Players’ Championship and complete a career Grand Slam.

Gushue and his rink from St. John’s, N.L., — featuring third Mark Nichols, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker — already claimed the Rogers Grand Slam Cup on Saturday and earned a total of $101,500 for their week of work.

Gushue has had a very successful Grand Slam of Curling series, winning three titles including the National and Elite 10. He also finished runner-up at the Tour Challenge Tier 1.

“It means a lot,” Gushue said about winning the event.

“This is right up there right next to the Brier as the most important event of the year. It was a disappointing finish at the Brier, so to come back and win this week and finish the career Grand Slam for all four of us, it’s been a great year and definitely a great way to cap it off.”

Also on Sunday, Scotland’s Eve Muirhead won her third Players’ Championship title with a 9-6 victory over Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones in the women’s final.

Gushue grabbed singles in the first and second end, but Jacobs, from Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., scored a deuce in the third to make it 2-2 going into the fourth end.

The two teams traded singles in the fourth and fifth end before Gushue made it 5-3 when he took two in the sixth. Jacobs made it 5-4 in the seventh but could not come any closer after running out of rocks in the eighth.

The team of Jacobs, third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden, and lead Ryan Harden were competing in their third consecutive Players’ Championship final.

Earlier in the day, Jones defeated Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson 6-4 in the semifinal to clinch a berth into the 2017 Canadian Olympic curling trials. The spot was up for grabs after Scotties Tournament of Hearts champion Chelsea Carey finished off of the podium at the worlds. Jones won the last trials and captured the gold medal at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan won this season’s Rogers Grand Slam Cup women’s title as the overall season champion, earning a $75,000 bonus. Homan lost to Einarson 7-6 in the Players’ quarter-finals.

As the defending champions, Muirhead’s rink started the women’s final with the hammer but their skip had to make a draw to the button with Jones sitting four plus two guards above the house.

Jones gave up a steal of one in the second. Jones made a straight runback double to count three for a 3-2 advantage in the third.

Muirhead reclaimed the lead 4-3 with a deuce in four but Jones made a hit and roll on to the button to tie it in five.

Muirhead grabbed the lead for good in the sixth end, drawing for three with her last to go up 7-4. Jones closed the gap to within one with a deuce in seven, but gave up the hammer in the process.