The Grand Slam of Curling (branded as the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling for sponsorship reasons) is a series of

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area which is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take turns slidi ...

bonspiel A bonspiel is a curling tournament, consisting of several games, often held on a weekend. Until the 20th century most bonspiels were held outdoors, on a frozen freshwater loch. Today almost all bonspiels are held indoors on specially prepared a ...

s that are a part of the annual

World Curling Tour The World Curling Tour (WCT) is a group of curling bonspiels featuring the best male, female, and mixed doubles curlers in the world. History The World Curling Tour was founded by former World Champion Ed Lukowich, with later assistance from John ...

. Grand Slam events offer a purse of at least

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$100,000, and feature the best teams from across Canada and around the World. The Grand Slam was instituted during the 2001–02 season for men and 2006–07 for women (with the 2006 Players' Championship also considered a Slam), but some of the Grand Slam events have longer histories as bonspiels. The Grand Slam season consists of six men's and women's events. The original four events (Masters, Open, National, and Players' Championship) are considered to be "majors". The other two slams (Tour Challenge and Champions Cup) have unique formats that set them apart from other events on the

History

In 2001, many curlers were upset with the Canadian Curling Association (CCA). Their complaints included the long curling season, not getting any prize money at the Brier, the national men's curling championship, which generated millions for the CCA, and the inability to have sponsors at the Brier. Eighteen of the top twenty curling teams, known as the "Original 18", agreed to boycott the Brier from 2001 to 2003 and created the Grand Slam of Curling. The original 18 skips were

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, Kerry Burtnyk,

Pierre Charette Pierre G. "The Duffer" Charette (born June 23, 1955) is a Canadian curler from Ottawa, Ontario. He currently coaches the Silvana Tirinzoni rink Career Born in Masson, Quebec, Charette has played in thirteen Briers, and was the first curler to ...

Glen Despins Glen Despins (April 19, 1964 – October 1, 2020) was a Canadian curler from Regina, Saskatchewan. Despins was a two-time Saskatchewan men's champion, representing his province at the 1996 and 1998 Labatt Briers, Canada's national men's curling ch ...

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, Bert Gretzinger,

Glenn Howard Glenn William Howard (born July 17, 1962) is a Canadian curler who is one of the most decorated curlers of all time. He has won four world championships, four Briers and 17 Ontario provincial championships, including a record eight straight, ...

, Bruce Korte, Allan Lyburn, William Lyburn, Kevin Martin, Greg McAulay, Wayne Middaugh,

Kevin Park Kevin Park (born September 2, 1964 in Hythe, Alberta) is a Canadian curler from Edmonton, Alberta. Career Early career Park was a two time provincial junior champion in his native Alberta, winning in 1983 and 1984. Park played third for Kev ...

, Brent Pierce, Vic Peters, Peter Steski and

Jeff Stoughton Jeffrey R. "Jeff" Stoughton (born July 26, 1963) is a Canadian retired curler. He is a three-time Brier champion and two-time World champion as skip. Stoughton retired from competitive curling in 2015. He is one of the most successful Manitoba ...

. The Grand Slam of Curling began in the 2001–02 curling season with four events: the Canadian Open, Masters, National, and

Players' Championship The Players' Championship is one of the final events on the World Curling Tour (WCT) and is a part of the Grand Slam of Curling. From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". The even ...

, the four "majors". After the merger of the Women's Tour and the WCT, the 2006 Players' Championship featured a women's event for the first time, and was considered a Slam for the women too. In the 2006–07 curling season, several existing women's events were designated as Grand Slams, but were not operated by the Grand Slam of Curling. Grand Slam games also got reduced to eight ends that season. In 2012,

Sportsnet Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then was ...

purchased the Grand Slam of Curling. As such, television rights to the series have also defaulted to Sportsnet, though certain events may still air championship rounds on CBC. In 2017, Yare TV began broadcasting online streams of the Grand Slams, opening up access to fans outside of Canada. Under this new ownership, the separate women's Grand Slams were phased out, with women's divisions added to existing men's Grand Slams. New Grand Slam events were also added: the Elite 10 in the

2014–15 curling season The 2014–15 curling season began in August 2014 and ended in May 2015. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners are listed before the women's tournament winners.'' Curling Canada sanctioned events This section lists e ...

and the

Tour Challenge The Tour Challenge is a bonspiel, or curling tournament, and is a Grand Slam of Curling The Grand Slam of Curling (branded as the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling for sponsorship reasons) is a series of curling bonspiels that are a part of ...

and Champions Cup in the

2015–16 curling season The 2015–16 curling season began in August 2015 and ended in May 2016. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.'' Curling Canada sanctioned events This section list ...

. A women's division was added to the Elite 10 in the

2018–19 curling season The 2018–19 curling season began in August 2018 and ended in May 2019. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.'' World Curling Federation events Championships ...

, achieving for the first time equal number of events, prize money, and television time for men and women. The Elite 10 was dropped the next season, bringing the number of events to six. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

cancelled the remaining two slams of the 2019-20 curling season and all but the remaining two slams of the

2020–21 curling season The 2020–21 curling season began in August 2020 and ended in May 2021. ''Note: In events with two genders, the men's tournament winners will be listed before the women's tournament winners.'' World Curling Federation events Source: Champion ...

. The 2020–21 season was supposed to include the first international Grand Slam, the Canadian Open (renamed to the Open) to be held in

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Current Grand Slams

National

The National was introduced as a men's event in 2002, and was added to the women's side in 2015. ;Champions ¹ There was no National in the 2004–2005 season, but the BDO Curling Classic was held. It returned to its original name in the 2005–2006 season. The words "BDO Classic" were added to the name of the Canadian Open.

Tour Challenge

The GSOC Tour Challenge was introduced as a men's and women's event in the

. The Tour Challenge has two tiers, with the bottom tier including regional invitations. The Tier 2 winning team qualifies for a subsequent grand slam. ;Champions ''The winning skip for Tier 1 is listed above the Tier 2 winning skip.''

Masters

The Masters was introduced as a men's event 2002, and was added to the women's side in 2012. ;Champions

Canadian Open

The Canadian Open was introduced as a men's event in 2001, and was added to the women's side in 2014. The Canadian Open is the only Grand Slam that uses a triple knockout format. ;Champions

Players' Championship

The Players' Championship, the oldest tournament on the men's Grand Slam of Curling, was introduced as a men's event in 1993, and added to the women's side in 2006. ;Champions

Champions Cup

The Champions Cup was introduced as a men's and women's event in the

. The Champions Cup is contested by champions of various Grand Slam, Season of Champions,

, and other events throughout the season. ;Champions

Statistics: Grand Slams won

This is a list of Grand Slam events won per player, including Players' Championships won prior to the creation of the Grand Slam.

Men

''As of the 2022 Tour Challenge''

Women

''As of the 2022 Masters; Minimum 2 wins'' Note: Totals due not include wins prior to the first Grand Slam season of 2006–07, excepting the Players'.

Former Grand Slams

Sobeys Slam

The Sobeys Slam was held as a Grand Slam event on three occasions in

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. ;Champions

Wayden Transportation Ladies Classic

The Wayden Transportation Ladies Classic was held annually in

Abbotsford, British Columbia Abbotsford is a city located in British Columbia, adjacent to the Canada–United States border, Greater Vancouver and the Fraser River. With an estimated population of 153,524 people it is the largest municipality in the province outside metro ...

, and was held nine times before it was discontinued. ;Champions

Manitoba Lotteries Women's Curling Classic

The Manitoba Women's Curling Classic was held in

Portage la Prairie Portage la Prairie () is a small city in the Central Plains Region of Manitoba, Canada. As of 2016, the population was 13,304 and the land area of the city was . Portage la Prairie is approximately west of Winnipeg, along the Trans-Canada Hi ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, and was held eight times as a Grand Slam tournament. It was removed from the Grand Slam lineup starting in the

. ;Champions

Curlers' Corner Autumn Gold Curling Classic

The Autumn Gold Curling Classic is held annually in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

, and has been held 42 times (as of 2019). It offers a total purse of $50,000. It was removed from the Grand Slam lineup starting in the

Colonial Square Ladies Classic

The Colonial Square Ladies Classic is held annually in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

, and has been held since 1983. It officially became a Grand Slam event in 2012. It was removed from the Grand Slam lineup starting in the

Elite 10

The Elite 10 was introduced as a men's event in 2015, and added to the women's side in September 2018. The Elite 10 used a unique

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format, similar to skins curling. The event was dropped for the

2019–20 curling season The 2019–20 curling season began in June 2019 and was scheduled to end in May 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic, coronavirus pandemic declared in March 2020 resulted in the cancellation of events and the premature ending of the season. ''Not ...

. ;Champions

Pinty's Cup

Beginning with the 2012–13 season, at the end of the season, the top Grand Slam team wins the "Rogers Grand Slam Cup", where they are awarded $75,000. The cup was renamed to the "Bonus Cup" for the 2017–18 season, and then the "Pinty's Cup" in 2018–19. Teams accumulate points based on their performance in each of the slams except for the Champions Cup and Tour Challenge Tier 2.

References

Sources

CurlingZone.comWorldCurlingTour.com
{{Grand Slam of Curling World Curling Tour International curling competitions