The summer heat may still be here, but curling has already returned to the pebbled ice for another season.
Bruce Mouat and his crew from Stirling, Scotland won the season-opening Baden Masters in Switzerland on Sunday, defeating hometown favourite Team Yannick Schwaller, 7-6, in an extra end final.
Opened up the 2024-25 season with a win ✅🏆
— Team Mouat (@TeamMouat) August 18, 2024
And the first Scottish team to win the Baden Masters 👊🏻
A super close game against Team Schwaller 🤝 Thank you to the Baden Masters staff, volunteers, sponsors and fans for a great event.
Special thanks to our team supporters. pic.twitter.com/uZYvhxzeVJ
Mouat put up deuces in the first, fifth and seventh ends before scoring a single point with hammer in the ninth end to pick up the victory.
Team Mouat won all seven of their games at the Baden Masters, including topping Scottish rivals Team Ross Whyte in the semifinal.
Italy's Team Joel Retornaz, ranked No. 1 in the world coming into the 2024-25 season, fell to Team Whyte in the quarterfinal.
Sweden's Team Niklas Edin, the reigning world champions, dropped the other semifinal clash to Team Schwaller while Team Korey Dropkin of the United States failed to qualify for the playoffs with a 2-2 record.
Canada's lone rink, Team Jordan Chandler of Little Current, Ont., went 2-2 and missed the final eight.
The Scottish foursome - featuring skip Mouat, third Grant Hardie, second Bobby Lammie and lead Hammy McMillan Jr. - have been together since the 2017-18 season, winning a world title in 2023 and Olympic silver in 2022.
