Tom Brewster, Greg Drummond, Scott Andrews and Michael Goodfellow made it to the final of the Portes du Soleil Champery Masters.Logan Gray's team went out in the quarterfinals. David Edwards' side lost out in a playoff for the quarters, as did David Murdoch, despite a triple takeout with his last stone on the eighth to count three and force an extra end in his game against Pascal Hess. Shot of the year so far, in my book.
I really enjoyed the coverage of the event by Laola1.tv. Brian Gray had the role of lead commentator for most of the games I watched, joined by ice tech Mark Callan, Italian coach Dan Rafael, and David Edwards for different games. All very entertaining in different ways.
The Brewster team were going well all weekend, Tom himself playing some cracking shots, particularly against Jan Hauser in the quarterfinal. Having got past Hess in the semi, Team Brewster were in the final against Peter De Cruz's side. This young team, in which Benoit Schwarz plays the last stone, contested the final of the World Juniors at Perth last season and it was good to be able to watch them again. Trying to blank the seventh, with scores tied, Tom failed to run away and went into the last one up, without. In the eighth, it looked for a long time as if the Scots were in deep trouble, but a Brewster triple takeout ensured that the Swiss could only count a single and so it was in to an extra end.
Exciting to watch! The game came down to the final stone, Tom just an inch too heavy with his draw to the one foot. The young team from Geneva were the winners of the first ever Champery Masters.
All the results from the competition are here. The Curling Champions Tour website is here.
Top: Screenshot of Tom Brewster from the live Laola1.tv feed of the semifinal.
