By Jonathan Brazeau
LONDON, Ont. — Bruce Mouat is happy to be back in the swing of things, and in the Slam of things, at the AMJ Masters.
The Scottish skip and his squad kicked off their run in the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season with a decisive 8-3 victory over Sweden's Team Niklas Edin during Draw 3 action Tuesday at the Western Fair Sports Centre.
Team Mouat made history in the series during the 2024-25 campaign by becoming the first to win four Grand Slam titles in a single season.
Mouat, who also won his second world championship last season, said it's really nice to begin the AMJ Masters with a big win.
"We obviously love the Slams and we have done ever since we started them," said Mouat, who has won 10 Grand Slam titles in his career. "It’s just an exciting new journey for the Slams, and we want to obviously be a part of it.
"Coming in winning games is important to sticking in these Slams, and we’re really enjoying the kind of roll that we’ve been on at the Slams over the last couple years."
Mouat was sharp out of the gate, pulling off a double takeout to score a deuce in the first end.
After Edin hit for a single in the second, Mouat tapped into the cluttered house to count three in the third and hold a four-point advantage.
Edin's double attempt missed the mark in the fourth, leading to a steal and a commanding 6-1 lead for Mouat at the break.
The seven-time world champ Edin bounced back with an incredible angle raise takeout to score two in the fifth, however, it was early handshakes after Mouat made a takeout for two more points in the sixth.
Elsewhere in Draw 3, Team Brad Jacobs scored three points in the third and sixth ends during a 9-4 victory over Team Rylan Kleiter in a clash of Canadian clubs.
Switzerland's Team Silvana Tirinzoni hit and stuck for the winning point in the eighth end to beat China's Team Rui Wang 5-4.
Team Eun-ji Gim counted three in the seventh and fended off Team Seung-youn Ha 6-4 in a matchup of South Korean clubs.
UP NEXT
Round-robin play continues with Draw 4 at 6:30 p.m. ET / 3:30 p.m. PT. Tickets are available at GSOCtickets.com with online streaming available at rockchannel.com.
Broadcast coverage on Sportsnet and Sportsnet+ begins with Draw 10 Thursday at 11:30 a.m. ET / 8:30 a.m. PT.
NOTES
The AMJ Masters is the first Grand Slam of Curling event of the season, featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams.
Preliminary play runs through to Friday with the top eight teams qualifying for the playoffs. If necessary, tiebreakers will be played Saturday morning. The quarterfinals and semifinals are set for Saturday. Both finals are scheduled for Sunday.
There are no extra ends during preliminary play and the tiebreakers. If a game is tied after eight ends, a draw-to-the-button shootout will determine the winner. Extra ends return for the playoff rounds.
Teams receive three points for a regulation win (in eight ends or less), two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss.
