Kevin Koe tied for tops in Pool A at Players’ Championship with 2-0 record

TORONTO – World champion Kevin Koe is one of four curlers to start off the Grand Slam of Curling Players’ Championship with a perfect 2-0 record.

His Calgary rink beat Charley Thomas 6-4 in Draw 3 before downing Glenn Howard by an identical score in Draw 5 later Wednesday night.

Koe, who won the men’s world curling title last week in Basel, Switzerland, scored three in the seventh end to take a three point lead. Howard, from Penetanguishene, Ont., came back to score one in the eighth but it wasn’t enough.

Joining Koe atop the Pool A standings is Brad Jacobs.

Jacobs, of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., picked up his second win of the tournament when he beat Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers 6-2 in Draw 5.

The 2014 Winter Olympics gold medallist had a deuce in the fourth end and extended his lead over Carruthers with three in the sixth before the two sides shook hands. Jacobs beat Howard 6-4 earlier in the day.

Brad Gushue and Steve Laycock are tied for first in Pool B with 2-0 records.

Laycock routed Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen 7-1 Wednesday night. The Saskatoon native scored deuces in the third and sixth ends while adding singles in the fourth and fifth ends to blow the game open.

In other Draw 5 action, Sweden’s Niklas Edin got into the win column by toppling Calgary’s Charley Thomas 6-4.

Edmonton’s Kelsey Rocque beat Scotland’s Eve Muirhead 8-5 in the lone women’s match in Draw 5. Rocque scored five in the sixth end to put the game out of reach.

Both Rocque and Muirhead have 1-1 records in Pool B.