John Morris is an early season slump.
Morris fell 6-5 to Steffen Walstad of Norway Friday afternoon at the $100,000 Pinty’s Grand Slam of Curling Tour Challenge in Regina. Morris finished 0-4 in his five-team round-robin pool, Walstad went 4-0 to claim a spot in Saturday’s quarterfinals.
Jim Cotter of Vernon plays third but throws skip rocks for the Morris rink. Catlin Schneider of Saskatchewan is the second, while Tyrel Griffith of Kelowna is lead.
Morris opened the scoring with a single in the second end, then the rinks swapped deucs in the third and fourth, with Morris holding a 3-2 lead at the break.
Walstad picked up another deuce in five, held Morris to a single in six, then snapped a 4-4 tie with a third deuce in the seventh. Morris had the hammer in the final eighth end but could only muster a single point.
Morris lost 9-6 to Reid Carruthers of Winnipeg in Thursday afternoon’s draw.
Carruthers, who finished at 1-3, scored four in the fourth to grab a 5-3 lead heading into the break. Morris added his second three-ender of the game in five, but Carruthers retook the lead with a deuce in six and then stole two in eight.
The Tour Challenge runs through to Sunday at the Co-operators Centre at Evraz Place.
The men’s Tier 1 quarterfinals had Walstad playing Pat Simmons of Calgary (3-1), Brad Gushue of Newfoundland (4-0) facing Steve Laycock (2-2) of Saskatoon, John Shuster of Chisholm, Minn. taking on Brad Jacobs of Sault Ste. Marie in a battle of 3-1 teams, and Toronto’s John Epping (4-0) meeting Sweden’s Niklas Edin (2-2).
There are 60 teams in the Tour Challenge, including two tiers of 15 rinks on both the men’s and women’s sides.
Val Sweeting of Edmonton, who has confirmed for the Vernon Prestige Hotels &Resorts Curling Classic, was leading the women’s Tier 1 side at 4-0.
Winners of the Tier 1 division receive invites to the season-ending Pinty’s GSOC event, the Humpty’s Champions Cup, running April 24-29 in Calgary. Winners of the Tier 2 division earn berths to the following Pinty’s GSOC event, the Masters, Oct. 24-29, in Lloydminster, Sask.