TORONTO — It was a historic day for the Grand Slam of Curling on multiple levels to wrap up the season at the AMJ Players’ Championship.
Scotland’s Team Bruce Mouat became the first to win four titles in the series during a single season after pulling off an unreal raise in an extra end to edge Switzerland’s Team Yannick Schwaller 6-5 during Sunday’s men’s final.
Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr. captured three straight out of the gate at the HearingLife Tour Challenge, Co-op Canadian Open and KIOTI National.
It was also a historic sweep for Scotland in the men’s division. Although Mouat’s streak ended at the WFG Masters with a loss to Canada’s Team Brad Jacobs in the semifinals, the title still went to Scotland as countrymen Team Ross Whyte came out on top.
There was no rest for the world’s best as Sunday was Team Mouat’s 16th consecutive day on the ice.
The club arrived straight from winning gold in the world championship in Moose Jaw, Sask., defeating Schwaller in that final as well, to face Canada’s Team Rachel Homan in a charity skins game Monday at the first Rio Mare Battle of the Sexes presented by The Curling Group. Mouat raised $10,000 for Charlie Boy’s Cancer Fundraiser and Homan collected $2,000 for the Sandra Schmirler Foundation.
Mouat, who has won 10 career Grand Slam titles, posted a 6-1 record in the AMJ Players’ Championship — with his lone loss to Whyte during pool play — and collected $60,000 from the prize purse.
Schwaller, fourth Benoît Schwarz-van Berkel, second Sven Michel and lead Pablo Lachat-Couchepin earned $40,000. It was Schwaller’s second runner-up result in three years at the event as he continues to search for his first Grand Slam title.
The two teams started the season in August, facing off in the Baden Masters final, and fittingly enough, bookended the campaign with another showdown as they left it all out there.
Team Schwaller turned up the dial out of the gate, but Mouat made back-to-back clutch double takeouts to bail out his side and force Schwarz-van Berkel to draw for just a single.
Schwaller grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third as Mouat had to draw for one, and his shooter came up a wee bit short to give up a steal.
Mouat recovered in the fourth and drew for a deuce to tie it up, then put the pressure on in the fifth with three counters to force Schwarz-van Berkel to tap for one.
After Mouat tapped to guarantee a single in the sixth, out came the measuring stick for a pesky second stone sitting on the edge of the 12-foot circle by the tee line that gave him the go-ahead second point and a 4-3 advantage.
Mouat went up by two in the seventh as Schwarz-van Berkel’s double attempt missed the second counter, rolling under and away.
It looked like three points and the win was in play for Schwaller in the eighth until Mouat came through in the clutch again on a double takeout. Schwarz-van Berkel’s nose tap for two sent the game into overtime.
Mouat was short on a draw to the button with his first skip stone in OT, but he made no mistake on his last with the raise to pop out Schwaller’s shot rock.
Earlier Sunday, Switzerland’s Team Silvana Tirinzoni defeated Canada’s Team Rachel Homan 5-4 to successfully defend the women’s title.
The Grand Slam of Curling returns in the fall with the WFG Masters kicking off the 2025-26 season, Sept. 23-28, at the Western Fair Sports Centre in London, Ont.