MISSISSAUGA, Ont. – Glenn Howard of Coldwater, Ont., won the World Cup of Curling on Sunday with a 6-4 victory over Edmonton’s Kevin Koe.
With the win, Howard has won the Grand Slam of Curling event for the fourth year in a row. He’s beaten Koe in each of the past three finals.
Overall, Howard has won five of the past seven Grand Slam of Curling events. His eighth career Grand Slam win moves him into a tie with Wayne Middaugh for second place on the all-time list. Kevin Martin holds the record with 13 wins.
Koe jumped ahead early Sunday, grabbing a steal of two in the first end after Howard’s draw attempt to the button came up heavy.
“I kind of put the guys behind the eight-ball (with that one),” said Howard.
“(third Richard Hart) says, ‘don’t worry about it skipper, we’re never going to give up.’ And that’s true. We just kind of hung on and hung on, and got a couple of key misses out of them.”
With Howard trailing 3-1 after three ends, the 2007 world champion evened the game heading with an open draw for two points.
After Koe scored a point in the sixth with a triple takeout, Howard grabbed his first lead of the game in the seventh with another open hit for two points.
In the eighth end, Howard secured the victory with a steal of one point after Koe was forced to attempt a difficult angle runback on the game’s final shot.
With the loss, Koe fell to 0-6 all-time in Grand Slam finals.
“It’s disappointing,” said Koe. “We played good early that game and we really had a chance in the middle to get up a few on them. Unfortunately, we missed that chance and in the second half of the game they picked up their game. We made some misses and they really jumped all over them.”
Howard’s team won $24,000 for finishing first, while Koe’s foursome earned $14,000 for the runner-up result.
