Kevin Martin wins 1st world curling title
Becomes 31st Canadian rink to capture world championship since 1959
Last Updated: Sunday, April 13, 2008 | 5:40 PM CT
CBC Sports
Canadian Kevin Martin earned his first men's world curling championship Sunday, downing Scotland's David Murdoch 6-3 in Grand Forks, N.D.
The Edmonton skip scored two in the fifth end for a 3-1 lead and never looked back en route to his first international victory in six attempts.
Skip Kevin Martin, left, third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert pose Sunday with the world championship trophy in Grand Forks, N.D.
(Andrew Vaughan/Canadian Press)
"For myself, I don't think I would have had trouble sleeping when I'm 68," Martin said. "But to just have it put to rest, that's a good thing. Onward and upward."
The three-time Brier winner, making his first appearance in a world final since 1991, finished fourth at the 1997 event.
Martin and his rink of third John Morris, second Marc Kennedy and lead Ben Hebert curled 91 per cent on the day to become the 31st Canadian rink to capture the world championship since 1959.
"It feels great. It was a good effort by everybody," Martin, 41, told CBC Sports following his 12th victory in 14 matches this week. "The team we have is awfully good. If we just kept our emotions in check, we thought we had a good chance [to win the final] and we did.
"I sure appreciate all the e-mails and all the letters and all the phone calls from all the people around Canada in the last week."
Their victory follows a gold-medal performance by the Canadian women, led by skip Jennifer Jones, at last month's worlds in Vernon, B.C.
Winning the world championship gives Martin a spot in the Olympic curling trials to be held Dec. 6-13, 2009, in Edmonton.
It might also change Martin's image as a great money player who fails when he wears the Maple Leaf on his back. Having won close to $1 million in cash bonspiels during his career, Martin often came away empty-handed from major international competitions where national pride, not cash, was up for grabs.
Murdoch, 29, picked up his second silver medal in the last four years. He won the 2006 world championship and lost to Canada's Randy Ferbey the previous year.
Leading 3-1, Martin followed his highlight-reel shot in the sixth end with a steal of a crucial point in the seventh that was set up by an impressive roll to the button.
In that sixth end, Martin took out a Scottish rock and rolled behind a guard in the four-foot. That forced Murdoch to try a circus shot with this last rock.
The Scottish skip attempted an angle-raised takeout. His rock hit one Canadian stone, then rolled across the house and barely missed the second rock. That allowed Martin the steal and boosted his lead to 4-1.
Martin took a commanding 6-3 advantage into the final end after scoring two in the ninth by blasting a Scottish stone out of a pocket of two other rocks.
In the 10th, the Scots' comeback ended when they simply ran out of rocks.
"It was a bit disappointing, the way we played," Murdoch, who finished the week at 9-4, told CBC Sports. "[We had] a lot of chances. It was just a half-inch on a lot of shots."
It was Martin's second win in three attempts this week against Murdoch, who stole one in the 10th end Friday night for a come-from-behind 7-6 win in the 1-2 Page playoff.
Sunday's game swung in Canada's favour because Martin's front end of Kennedy and Hebert outperformed their Scottish counterparts. They made shots that set up the end so Martin could score points on his last rock.
Martin stole the game's first point in the second when Murdoch attempted a double takeout but got only one of Canada's rocks.
Murdoch made another mistake on the third end which cost him chance to take the lead. He wanted a hit-and-stay on his last rock, but his stone rolled too far. He picked up the point but could have scored two.
With files from the Canadian Press
