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Scots on Top

- Article by Brad Norman

David Murdoch and his Scottish team are world champions once again. Scotland took down Team Canada for the third time in the tournament to win gold medal and claim the 2009 Ford World Mens Championship. Scotland won the game 8-6.

After Scotland defeated Kevin Martin in the round robin and again in the 1 vs. 2 page playoff game, fans new that this championship match-up would be a tough battle. And it turned out to be just that. Heading into the fifth end breaks, Canada was ahead by a slight margin, 4-3.

After trading single points in the sixth and seventh ends, Kevin Martin pulled off a steal in the eighth, increasing his lead to two points. But when Murdoch grabbed the deuce in the ninth, it was all tied up heading into the final end.

The house became very cluttered in the tenth end, and when the time came for Kevin Martin to take his first shot, he didn't know what to do. The rocks were positioned decently well for the Canadian squad, so Martin elected to make a very gutsy move: he deliberatly threw his rock through the house. This allowed Murdoch to play a little tap on his own rocks, giving Scotland shot rock and leaving Canada a very tricky take-out for the win.

Kevin Martin took his time lining up the shot, but the rock was inside the broom right out of his hands. Despite having two of the best sweepers in the game, the rock hit instead and left the Scottish rock on the button. This gave Scotland a steal of two and the 8-6 victory.

This is David Murdoch's second gold medal at the mens championship. He won the championship in 2006 when it was held in Lowell. He also earned a pair of silver medals, one in 2005 and another last year in 2008.

Kevin Martin, however, will have to settle for a bitterly familiar silver medal. The vetern skip from Alberta has a large collection of silver medals: one from the 1986 world junior championship, one from the 1991 world championship, one from the 2002 Olympics, and now another from the world championship.

The season isn't done for Kevin Martin yet. He'll be joining Canada's best next week at the Players' Championship, the final event of the 2008-2009 World Curling Tour season.

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