Another curling road trip to dissect

Francis Ouimet was not the first American-born player to win golf’s 1913 U.S. Open at Brookline Country Club. Jack McDermott of Philadelphia, PA won the two previous Opens, the first non-Scottish or English player to hoist the trophy. Eventually, golf flourished across the United States and the rise of prominent American professional players led the U.S. to such dominance that the Ryder Cup neared extinction in the 1970s.

Slowly, the growth of the game across the planet developed new champions from all nationalities. The winner of last year’s Open was Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick and the previous year, Spain’s John Rahm. Since 2000, nine American-born players have won 12 U.S. Opens with the remaining victories by players from South Africa, Australia, Argentina, Ireland, England, Germany and Spain.

The United States still has many great players, but golf is truly a global sport.

In 2020, 15 of the 32 Canadian Open (of curling) team entries came from outside of Canada. This year, the scales have tipped and it’s Canada with one less (15) than half the teams in the field. As Team Mouat reminded some on Twitter recently, “Slams” are for the best teams in the world and many of them happen to not be Canadian.

We were also reminded that Scotland invented the sport.

However, like Americans with golf, Canadians often believed they were the Big Kahuna Burgers of curling. But even the average fan who doesn’t drive an hour and 14 minutes down Highway 21 to Camrose to watch the pros do battle realizes there are many other burgers (and tacos) at the table.

During a men’s draw at the Encana arena, fans cheered the loudest for Kevin Koe, Brad Gushue and Matt Dunstone. Some just cheered to try and get on television. 

Meanwhile, the support for Mouat, Dropkin, Schwaller, Retornaz and Whyte was … polite. Great shots are always appreciated but the locals are pulling for the players who have worn a Maple Leaf in the past and may again in the future. 

One day a Grand Slam may be played in rural Canada and broadcast on Canadian television with less than a handful of Canadian teams in contention—will viewers still watch, and will Sportsnet remain interested? Perhaps fans will cheer harder for one or two Canadian underdogs, but hopefully it will be to appreciate seeing the best players in the world attempting to win the strongest fields in their sport.

Beyond the International talent on display, the Canadian Open provides viewers with what some would argue is the purest format for a bonspiel. The triple knockout ensures every team on the ice is playing with the same incentive—to move on to the playoffs. There are no late round robin mail-ins by teams out of contention, as every squad remains alive to reach the quarterfinal until they’ve lost their third game.

Back in their day, many of the greats—like Paul Gowsell and Al Hackner—would stumble early in an event then rebound through the C-qualifier and storm their way to victory. Momentum gathered from reeling off several wins in succession would mix with cocktails and late nights to create a super-squad that could rarely be defeated.

Just as often however, teams would drop to C and lose their third in a row or, as in the case of Kevin Koe this week, their third in four games. Trunks are then loaded with brooms and bags as teams swiftly speed out of town without playing meaningless games and are instead left wondering what went wrong during the long drive home.

The Friday afternoon draw provided two extra-end contests. Despite the no-tick centre line, Italy’s first Grand Slam champion Joel Retornaz was unable to get much in play and once you blinked, it looked like a classic ho-hum final end and Brad Gushue advanced to the quarterfinal. 

On the very next sheet however, America’s Korey Dropkin was able to apply pressure and Bruce Mouat had to bail his team out with a difficult draw to the button while facing a pair of buried red stones on top of the four foot.

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5tpSqUi07M[/embed]

In the TV game, Matt Dunstone rebounded with a triple in the sixth and steal in seven against Scotland’s Ross Whyte to move into Saturday afternoon’s playoff round.

In the women’s 4:30 draw, Hasselborg fell 8-6 to Winnipeg’s Abby Ackland, playing in her first Grand Slam—and with that, her young team qualified for the playoffs. Rachel Homan defeated Kerri Einarson in the TV matchup while Korea’s Gim Eun-ji took down Winnipeg’s Kaitlyn Lawes 6-3.

Lawes dropped into C where she faced the other evening winner, her ex-skip Jennifer Jones, on Saturday morning. Jones walloped Lawes 8-1.

Other Saturday morning women’s C-side qualifiers saw Hasselborg rebound against Italy’s Stefania Constantini by a 6-3 scoreline, while Einarson thumped Switzerland’s Raphaela Keiser 13-4.

Of note, during the Gim/Lawes game, a rare three-rock measure took place which was handled perfectly by all the players involved. That’s players, not officials, which has been a bone of contention for some, including fellow podcasters the 2 Girls.

Having seen enough of the pros, my road trip home diverted from Highway 21 to 833 and a stop at the Ardrossan Curling Club to witness some of the joes.

Warm-up with the reigning Alberta Senior Men’s Champions includes arm curls with a beer bottle (or two) and after a stressful first end, Team Pahl was pleased to see me drop by with round two (or was it three?) including an Irish whiskey shot for birthday-vice Mark Klinck.

Perhaps they will make it through the C event after all.