Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock heads into quarter-finals with 4-0 record

OKOTOKS, Alta. – Saskatoon’s Steve Laycock heads into the quarter-finals of the Masters Grand Slam of Curling tournament as the only undefeated skip on the men’s side.

Laycock finished round-robin play on Friday with a 4-0 record and will face Scotland’s David Murdoch in Saturday’s quarters.

Calgary’s Kevin Koe (2-2) could have eliminated Murdoch (2-2) and taken his spot in the final eight with a victory Friday night, but fell 7-3 to the Scot in the final preliminary-round draw.

Toronto’s John Epping, Winnipeg’s Reid Carruthers, Matt Nichols and Team Gushue of St. John’s, N.L., Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., Winnipeg’s Mike McEwen and Sweden’s Niklas Edin all advanced to the quarters with 3-1 records.

Team Gushue, which is being skipped by Nichols while Brad Gushue recovers from hip surgery, plays Jacobs, Epping faces Edin and Carruthers is against McEwen on Saturday with spots in the semifinals on the line.

South Korea’s EunJung Kim and Sweden’s Anna Hasselborg finished atop the women’s standings with 4-0 records.

Kim will have to wait to find out her opponent, as she will play the winner of Saturday’s tiebreaker between Winnipeg’s Kerri Einarson and Allison Flaxey of Caledon, Ont. Einarson and Flaxey both finished 2-2.

Hasselborg will play Calgary’s Chelsea Carey (2-2).

Ottawa’s Rachel Homan (3-1) faces Winnipeg’s Jennifer Jones (2-2) while the final quarter-final draw is Swiss matchup between Binia Feltscher and Silvana Tirinzoni. Both skips finished 3-1.

The finals are scheduled for Sunday. The event features a combined purse of $250,000.