GUELPH, Ont. — Calgary’s Team Brad Jacobs remained undefeated at the WFG Masters and secured a spot in the playoffs after defeating Saskatoon’s Team Mike McEwen 7-4 during Draw 11 Thursday.
Team Jacobs punched a ticket to the quarterfinals at 3-0 with one more round-robin game to go against Sweden’s Team Niklas Edin on Friday.
Team McEwen dropped to a 1-2 record and must win its remaining match in preliminary play against world No. 1 Team Bruce Mouat from Scotland.
The game started in McEwen’s favour with control of the hammer. McEwen made an open draw to score a deuce in the second end, but Jacobs matched right back and capitalized after McEwen’s missed shot to hit for the tying two points.
The turning point came in the fourth end as Jacobs sat a trio of stones and stole them all as McEwen’s shooter ticked off of the top one and rolled the wrong way to make it 5-2.
McEwen bounced back with a double for a deuce in the fifth and forced Jacobs to draw for a single.
Misfortune struck McEwen in the seventh though as he was looking to score two, but his shooter picked out of his hand, leading to a steal and a three-point advantage for Jacobs.
McEwen still held the hammer for the eighth end, however, it was handshakes after Team Jacobs third Marc Kennedy fired a double takeout.
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Elsewhere in Draw 11, Edin pulled off a long angle raise takeout to score four points in the eighth end and defeat Mouat 8-5.
Edin and Mouat hold identical 2-1 records.
Team John Epping of Sudbury, Ont., got into the win column with a 6-5 extra-end victory over Team Korey Dropkin from the United States.
Winnipeg’s Team Jordon McDonald earned a first win in the Grand Slam series with a 5-3 victory over Team Marco Hösli of Switzerland.
Epping, Dropkin, McDonald and Hösli are all still in the mix with 1-2 records.
Round-robin play continues with Draw 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET / 4:30 p.m. PT with broadcast coverage on Sportsnet East, Ontario and Sportsnet+.
The WFG Masters is the fourth Grand Slam of Curling event of the season featuring 16 of the top men’s teams and 16 of the top women’s teams from around the world. … A new rule is being tested this week where teams will lose the hammer if they blank two consecutive ends. … Round-robin play runs through to Friday evening. The top eight teams in both divisions qualify for the playoffs. … If necessary, one tiebreaker round will be held Saturday morning. … The quarterfinals and semifinals are scheduled for Saturday with both finals slated for Sunday.