It’s Finals Day at the 2018 Scottish Curling Championships at Dewars Centre, Perth. A week of world-class curling action concludes with the women’s final at 11am followed by the men’s final later in the day.
Photo: Brian Battensby
The Scottish Curling Championships is Scotland’s premier curling event and one of the highlights of the RCCC’s curling calendar.
While the world’s best are battling it out at the Winter Olympics in Korea, the cream of Scottish talent are on the ice in Perth competing in the 2018 Scottish Curling Championships. 10 men’s teams and 5 women’s teams will compete for the national title and the right to challenge the Olympians in the World Championship Playoff in March for their ticket to the World Championships.
Read on for a full preview courtesy of the Scottish Curling website:-
The men’s field contains former Scottish Champions, Olympians, grand slam champions and athletes with numerous World and European appearances and medals. Bruce Mouat, beaten finalist last year, has a new-look team this year and will want to go one better and claim his first national men’s title. The team have had an excellent year winning four titles on tour including becoming the first Scottish team to win a grand slam title at The Boost National. Two of last year’s winning team (Greg Drummond and Michael Goodfellow) are part of Team Drummond who will hope to be in the playoff hunt alongside Mouat. Team Drummond have been consistent on tour including making the final at the Champery Masters along with 5 other playoff appearances over the season.
2016 Champion Tom Brewster is reunited with previous teammate Scott Andrews and is looking for his fifth Men’s title as a skip. The team have found some success throughout the World Curling Tour season and know they can push into the final weekend with a strong team performance. Team Bryce found immediate domestic success by claiming the first title on the Goldline Scottish Curling Tour at the Braehead Open. They may be peaking at the right time as after a strong showing at the Perth Masters, two of the team (Ross Whyte and Robin Brydone) were victorious at the 2018 Johnston Carmichael Scottish Curling Junior Championships.
Completing the men’s field are the teams who finished second and third respectively at the juniors, teams Kinnear and McNay; Scottish Curling Tour teams Taylor and Hare, and teams Young and Shaw.
The women’s competition is headed by last year’s runners up, Team Fleming. They will hope to break through this year and claim their first women’s title. After a consistent season on tour, including two semi-final appearances in Basel and Red Deer, the team’s most recent outing was a strong quarter final showing at the Glynhill Ladies International at Braehead. They will be joined by the newly crowned Scottish Junior Champions, Team Morrison who are continuing their preparation for the World Junior Curling Championships in Aberdeen.
Team Jackson may have lost out at this year’s junior championship, but they will be fully focussed on claiming a first ladies’ title after a promising year establishing themselves on tour. Team Hamilton have had their struggles this season but some recent strong performances at the Glynhill Ladies International mean they will be confident of reaching the weekend. Finally, the newly formed Team Wilson will hope their hard work and travels throughout the season will see them kick into gear at the right time and propel them towards the playoffs.
Today’s women’s and men’s champions will qualify for the World Championship Playoff where they will face-off against Teams Muirhead and Smith for the right to represent Scotland at the World Curling Championships which take place in Ontario in March (women’s) and Las Vegas in April (men’s).
This is the latest draw and team lists for the Scottish Curling Championships via the RCCC website
Doors open today at 9.30am for the women’s final at 11am and men’s final at 4pm.
Tickets in advance are available via the ‘Get Tickets’ link. Tickets can be purchased separately for the women’s and men’s finals, or alternatively an all-day ticket is available.
Tickets on the day are available subject to availability. Checking the RCCC Twitter feed before travelling is recommended.