World Curling Tour

The World Curling Tour is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male curlers in the world. A Women's World Curling Tour also exists.

History

The World Curling Tour was created in 1992. In 2001, the WCT introduced a series of Grand Slam events for men which was later followed in 2006 by Grand Slam events for women. These became known as the Grand Slam of Curling and featured large payouts. Originally, curlers who participated in Grand Slam events were obliged to not participate in their respective Brier playdowns, however this was quickly rescinded.

Most WCT events are held in the Fall, and early Winter to avoid competing with the Brier playdowns.

The WCT is experimenting with length of games in two interesting ways. The first is that the games are only eight ends long with a 4th end break. The second is that the time clocks only count "thinking time", so the clock goes off when the players throw the rock. The reason is that time clocks, an innovation created to speed up the game, would stop as soon as the stone stopped.With the old system where teams were given 73 minutes of time [1] if a team was losing, they would throw more draw shots which take time. The team that is winning throws more hits and thus ends up with more time if needed. So the WCT moved to "Thinking time" to even out this discrepancy. With this new system, each team is given 40 minutes of “Thinking Time” plus an additional 5 minutes if the game goes to an extra end.[1]

The team with the most winnings at the end of the year wins the Founders Trophy. The winners in 2007 were Kevin Martin's team who won a total of $176,000.

A Women's World Curling Tour also exists, and is now affiliated with the WCT.

As of 2013, the Women’s World Curling Tour begins its debut in mid-August with the Fort Wayne Summer Cash Spiel and has events taking place all throughout the curling season until the Players Championship in mid-April. The men’s begins in mid-August as well with the Oakville OCT Fall Classic and then finishes with the women at the Players Championship. Each of the bonspiel events on the World Curling tour and Women’s World Curling Tour lasts for approximately 3 days with a final payoff ranging in the thousands of dollars for the winners. There are 4 major men’s tournaments and 5 major women’s tournaments that are held throughout the year, each with a final cash prize of $100,000 for the winning team. For the men these major tournaments are the Masters of Curling, the Canadian Open, the Syncrude Nationals and the Players championship. For the women, the major tournaments are the Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries Women's Classic, the Masters of Curling, the Colonial Square Ladies Classic, and the Players Championship. There also used to be 2 more grand slam events for the women called Sobeys Slam and Wayden Transportation Ladies Classic but these were discontinued in 2010. Together, these events are known as Grand Slam events because of the large payoff that is associated with them as well as the number of high-level curlers that play in these tournaments.

On October 2, 2006, the license of rights for the Grand Slam of Curling was sold to Insight Sports Ltd. but was later sold again in August 2012 to Rogers Communications.[2] The WCT naming rights were then sold to Asham, a long time contributor to the sport, until 2014 and because of this, the World Curling Tour was renamed Asham’s World Curling Tour. The Grand slam was originally simply called the Grand Slam of Curling until 2008 when the rights were sold by the CBC to Capital One bank which renamed the Grand Slam the Capitol One grand Slam of Curling. Unlike the other World Curling Tour events, these Grand Slams they are played in 8-end games as opposed to the usual 10 end games found in the other WCT events. Another new rule that was first put into practice at the men’s nationals in 2014 is the 5 rock rule which increased the 4 rock rule and free guard zone rule by another rock.[3] This changed the starting strategy of the game as the team with the hammer was able to throw up two guards uncontested instead of the usual 1 allowed with the previously used 4 rock rule. Through the addition of the Grand slam events and the new rule changes, the WCT is rapidly becoming a well known series to sports fans worldwide.

On June 28, 2017, the World Curling Tour officially merged with the Curling Champions Tour to create a world-wide entity focused on growing the game on the International stage. The growth of a Mixed Doubles tour, along with adding Junior and Wheelchair curling tours to expand the offering.[4]

Men's Events

As of the 2015-16 curling season

Week Event Location Purse
1Uiseong International Curling TourUiseong, KORUS$3,500
2Stu Sells Oakville TankardOakville, ONC$27,200
4GSOC Tour Challenge Tier 1Paradise, NLC$100,000
5AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins ClassicCornwall, ONC$46,000
5HDF Insurance Shoot-OutEdmonton, ABC$22,000
5Cloverdale Cash SpielSurrey, BCC$8,200
6Point Optical Curling ClassicSaskatoon, SKC$41,000
6KW Fall ClassicKitchener-Waterloo, ONC$9,900
6Appleton Rum CashspielLower Sackville, NSC$8,000
7Prestige Hotels & Resorts Curling ClassicVernon, BCC$17,000
7Sobeys ClassicNew Glasgow, NSC$11,200
8Minebea CupMiyota, JPN¥350,000
8Direct Horizontal Drilling Fall ClassicEdmonton, ABC$50,000
8St. Paul Cash SpielSt. Paul, MNUS$12,000
8Bud Light Men's CashspielHalifax, NSC$5,000
9Canad Inns Men's ClassicPortage la Prairie, MBC$60,000
9Hub International Crown of CurlingKamloops, BCC$26,000
9Stroud Sleeman Cash SpielStroud, ONC$12,380
9McKee Homes Fall Curling ClassicAirdrie, ABC$9,600
10Challenge Chateau Cartier de GatineauGatineau, QCC$45,000
10Red Deer Curling ClassicRed Deer, ABC$39,000
10Bernick's Miller Lite OpenBemidji, MNUS$14,000
10Grande Prairie Cash SpielGrande Prairie, ABC$8,000
11Masters of CurlingTruro, NSC$100,000
11Medicine Hat Charity ClassicMedicine Hat, ABC$22,000
11Huron ReproGraphics Oil Heritage ClassicSarnia, ONC$22,000
12CookstownCash presented by Comco Canada IncCookstown, ONC$22,500
12Original 16 WCT BonspielCalgary, ABC$15,000
12Coronation Business Group Mens ClassicMaple Ridge, BCC$8,000
12Fort St. John Cash SpielFort St. John, BCC$8,000
13The NationalOshawa, ONC$100,000
13Westwood Inn ClassicSwan River, MBC$36,000
13Bally Haly CashspielSt. Johns, NLC$0
14DEKALB SuperspielMorris, MBC$45,000
14Dave Jones Molson Mayflower CashspielHalifax, NSC$27,400
15Weatherford Curling ClassicEstevan, SKC$32,000
15Challenge Casino de CharlevoixClermont, QCC$27,000
15Coors Light Cash SpielDuluth, MNUS$16,000
15Black Diamond / High River CashBlack Diamond / High River, ABC$8,000
15Spitfire Arms Cash SpielWindsor, NSC$4,900
15Dawson Creek Cash SpielDawson Creek, BCC$8,000
16Home Hardware Canada Cup of CurlingCamrose, ABC$70,000
16WFG Jim Sullivan Curling ClassicSaint John, NBC$15,300
17Canadian OpenYorkton, SKC$100,000
17Truro CashspielTruro, NSC$12,000
18Karuizawa InternationalKaruizawa, JPN¥2,500,000
18Curl Mesabi ClassicEveleth, MNUS$20,000
20U.S. Open of CurlingBlaine, MNUS$24,000
20Peace River Cash SpielPeace River, ABC$8,000
21Goldline Saskatchewan Players ChampionshipHumboldt, SKC$11,000
22Red Square ClassicMoscow, RUS{{currency}} – invalid amount (help)
23Ed Werenich Golden Wrench ClassicTempe, AZUS$15,300
31Elite 10Victoria, BCC$100,000
31Alberta Series ChampionshipMundare, AB{{currency}} – invalid amount (help)
35Players' ChampionshipToronto, ONC$100,000
37Champions CupC$100,000

Women's events

As of 2011–12 curling season

Event Location Week Purse
AMJ Campbell Shorty Jenkins Classic Brockville, Ontario 3 CAD$16,400
The Shoot-Out Edmonton, Alberta 3 CAD$20,000
Schmirler Curling Classic Regina, Saskatchewan 4 CAD$47,000
Twin Anchors Invitational Vernon, British Columbia 5 CAD$35,000
Curlers Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic Calgary, Alberta 6 CAD$52,000
Meyers Norris Penny Charity Classic Medicine Hat, Alberta 7 CAD
Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic Winnipeg, Manitoba 8 CAD$60,000
Labatt Crown of Curling Kamloops, British Columbia 8 CAD$34,000
Challenge Casino Lac Leamy Gatineau, Quebec 8 CAD$11,000
Colonial Square Ladies Classic Saskatoon, Saskatchewan 9 CAD$35,000
Royal LePage OVCA Women's Fall Classic Kemptville, Ontario 10 CAD$15,000
Red Deer Curling Classic Red Deer, Alberta 10 CAD$34,000
Vancouver Island Shootout Victoria, British Columbia 11 CAD$50,000
Sun Life Classic Brantford, Ontario 12 CAD$50,000
Interlake Pharmacy Classic Stonewall, Manitoba 12 CAD$11,250
DEKALB Superspiel Morris, Manitoba 13 CAD$16,200
Boundary Ford Curling Classic Lloydminster, Alberta 13 CAD$32,000
Laphroaig Scotch Open Madison, Wisconsin 14 USD$16,000
Curl Mesabi Cash Spiel Eveleth, Minnesota 16 USD$17,200
Victoria Curling Classic Invitational Victoria, British Columbia 31
Sun Life Financial Players' Championship Summerside, Prince Edward Island 36 CAD$100,000
Sobeys Slam*

Grand Slam events indicated in bold.
Events with an asterisk (*) indicate events held in the 2010–11 curling season but not yet announced as included in the 2011–12 season.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Updated Curling Rule Book alters ‘thinking time’ rules". Island sports news. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Asham world curling tour". World Curling Tour. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Landry, Don. "Grand Slam of Curling: Five-rock rule comes to The National. Does the game need it or something more?". Yahoo sports Canada. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  4. ↑ "CurlingZone – Everything Curling". dev.curlingzone.com. Retrieved 2017-06-28.
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