Brad Gushue capped a successful and perfect four days on Sunday, bouncing back from a runner-up finish at the Brier the week previous to claim the top prize at the Pinty鈥檚 Grand Slam of Curling鈥檚 Elite 10 event at The Q Centre in Colwood.
The Newfoundland skip squeaked by Manitoba鈥檚 Reid Carruthers in a draw to the button in an extra end 鈥� the format used to break ties after eight ends of match play 鈥� to claim the Elite 10 trophy and the $20,000 top prize in the $100,000 event.
Gushue and teammates Mark Nichols at third, second Brett Gallant and lead Geoff Walker claimed their second grand slam title of the season and seventh overall win. The World Curling Tour鈥檚 money leaders took home $27,500 in total over the four days of undefeated play.
It was also the team鈥檚 fourth appearance in a final in five slam events in the 2015-16 season as Gushue continues his fine year.
He did it the hard way, failing to hang on to a 2-up lead after five ends, much like he did the night previous in the semifinal against Saskatchewan鈥檚 Steve Laycock. That game also went to a draw to the button. Gushue鈥檚 shot finished 2.3 inches away from the centre pin while Laycock鈥檚 was 2.8.
In the final, Carruthers went first and slid heavy to the back eight-foot circle while Gushue drew a piece of the button and saluted the appreciative crowd.
Gushue also defeated Carruthers and his rink of third Braeden Moskowy, second Derek Samagalski and lead Colin Hodgson in another extra-end draw to the button in the round-robin back on Day 1 of the event on Thursday.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 make things easy, that鈥檚 for sure,鈥� said Gushue. 鈥淎 two-point lead after five should be comfortable, but we gave a sloppy one away today in six and again in the seventh end. It was a stressful eighth and an even more stressful draw to the button.鈥�
It was the perfect tonic after losing to Kevin Koe in the Brier final the Sunday previous in Ottawa.
鈥淭his is going to heal the wounds from last week a lot faster. So to come back and win against 10 of the best teams in the world is pretty cool,鈥� Gushue admitted. 鈥淚t was a great bounce-back week. It was a lot of fun. The crowds were great, very supportive and we felt like we were the favourites, until we played Rachel (Homan).
鈥淚t was a tough week after last week. Emotionally, we weren鈥檛 in a good spot coming in, but we hung in and battled. We didn鈥檛 play our best, but we played well enough at the right times.鈥�
Led by Gushue who made way more shots than he missed.
鈥淲e were fortunate enough that Brad had been on his game all week and I wouldn鈥檛 want anyone else throwing that last rock to win a championship,鈥� said Nichols, who watched closely as Carruthers threw his draw first. 鈥淲hen Reid threw it, it looked good, but it kept skating so it gave Brad a good idea that it wasn鈥檛 as slow as we might have thought it was.鈥�
Gushue gave his to his brushers while Carruthers鈥� front end was helpless to the weight thrown.
鈥淥bviously to lose a championship on a draw to the button is a little frustrating, but the guys played awesome. I鈥檓 super proud of them,鈥� said Carruthers, who was looking for his first grand slam title as a skip and had defeated Koe in a draw to the button in the semifinal on Saturday.
鈥淲e battled back in this game and put some pressure on them. Unfortunately, I thought I threw what I wanted to, but I think maybe adrenaline got going a little bit and I over did it a touch. I should have given it to the sweepers.鈥�
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FINAL PAYOUTS
Brad Gushue $27,500
Reid Carruthers $18,500
Kevin Koe $14,000
Steve Laycock $13,500
Mike McEwen $12,000
John Epping $10,000
Niklas Edin $2,000
Rachel Homan $2,000
Brendan Bottcher $500
Charley Thomas $0
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