Bruce Mouat remains upbeat despite World curling champs bid ending

The European champion and his colleagues Hammy McMillan, Bobby Lammie and Grant Hardie won seven of their last eight round-robin matches to scrape through to the medal play-offs, but they were always playing catch-up against Koe, who led 4-1 after three ends.

Last year’s world bronze medallists were still two-down going to the last end, where Mouat attempted a double take-out with his final shot to take the contest to an extra end. He was inches off target, however, and had to settle for a single and a quarter-final exit as Koe gained revenge for last week’s round-robin defeat.

“It was always going to be tough giving Kevin that big a head start,” admitted Mouat. “We’re disappointed not to have gone further this week, but we’re proud of our efforts after a slow start. We loved competing at our second World Championship and we’ll be desperate to make sure we’re back again in Glasgow next year.”

Mouat and company then swapped the ice for the greens of the Lethbridge Country Club, and Mouat reported: “It was great fun on a fantastic golf course, and it was just what we needed.”