Jacobs off to quarters at Players Championship

Sault Ste. Marie’s Brad Jacobs is playoff bound at the latest Grand Slam of Curling event, the WestJet Players Championship being held at the Mattamy Athletic Centre in Toronto.

The Jacobs rink, which includes third Ryan Fry, second E.J. Harnden and lead Ryan Harnden finished round robin action with a 4-1 record and earned a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Jacobs wrapped up round robin action on Friday afternoon with an 8-3 win in six ends over Saskatoon, Sask’s Steve Laycock. The Jacobs rink jumped out to an early 5-0 lead in the contest, thanks to four in the opening end before stealing one more in the second end.

In Friday’s morning draw, the Jacobs rink dropped a 5-4 decision to Kyle Smith of Stirling, Scotland. Smith scored a single in the eighth end to pick up the victory.

On Thursday, Jacobs scored a pair in the seventh end and stole one more in the eighth end to beat John Epping of Toronto, Ont. 6-4.

On Wednesday night, Jacobs broke a 3-3 tie with a pair in the fifth end before stealing one more in the sixth en route to a 7-5 win over Karlstad, Sweden’s Niklas Edin.

Earlier in the day Wednesday, the Jacobs rink opened its round robin schedule with a 7-6 win over Geneva, Switzerland’s Peter De Cruz. A pair in the seventh end was the difference for the Jacobs rink.

Quarter-final action on the men’s side is set for 3 p.m. with the semifinals scheduled for Sunday morning at 11 a.m.

Jacobs will face Smith in one of four quarterfinal matchups. Smith finished the round robin with a 3-2 record.

The other men’s quarterfinal matches see Mike McEwen of Winnipeg, Man. face the winner of a tiebreaker between John Morris of Vernon, B.C. and Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg, Man.; Brad Gushue of St. John’s Nfld. will face Calgary, Alta’s Kevin Koe; and De Cruz will face Edin.