South Carolina Curling Championship – Gold and Bronze Medal Games Set

SOUTH CAROLINA CURLING CHAMPIONSHIP

GOLD AND BRONZE MEDAL GAMES SET

GREENVILLE, SC, May 18, 2011 – Competition for the first Curling Championship in South Carolina’s history concludes next Tuesday, May 24th, at the Greenville County Recreation District’s Pavilion ice facility. The Championship, hosted by the Palmetto Curling Club, is comprised of two divisions of four teams who played an eight game preliminary round to determine the match-ups for next week’s medal games.

The Upstate Division, and an entry into the gold medal game, was won by Bill Marshall’s rink who narrowly edged out the team led by fellow Canadian Glenn Foster on the last stone of divisional play. Marshall, originally from New Glasgow, NS, commented “It was a really dramatic game. I don’t think Glenn or I ever imagined that two guys from Nova Scotia would be down in South Carolina battling it out to a final stone for a spot in a championship final. But it never ceases to amaze me how often curling does come down to that last rock. We had a great run in divisional play, but we still feel fortunate to make it through to the gold medal game.”

Marshall will face Palmetto Division winner, Matt Sharkey’s team who prevailed in the tight race for the divisional title. Sharkey, a former PGA Nationwide Tour player, said “We had a lot of close games with several of them ending in ties. We only had one loss though, but that was to Marshall. So, we are really happy to get an opportunity to play them again. The fact that it is for the State Championship makes it all the more exciting.”

Two other Palmetto Division teams made it through to the bronze medal match-up which will feature skips Andy Philip, from Trenton, Ontario, versus Anne Wiggins, a former US Senior Women’s National Champion and current resident of Hendersonville, NC

. Both games will be played at 8pm, and admission is free for spectators.

The Palmetto Curling Club is a South Carolina non-profit corporation established in 2010 by a few Upstate enthusiasts who envision the distinctive cultural and innovation contribution curling can make to Greenville and the Upstate. The Palmetto Curling Club meets Tuesday evenings at the GCRD Pavilion.

Curling is an ancient Scottish sport played on ice where each member of a four-person team “shoots” 42-pound granite stones across the ice toward a target. The team’s objective is to position as many of its stones closer to the target than its opponent’s nearest stone during each “end” to earn points. The winner is the team that has the most points at the game’s conclusion. Curling is a sport of honor, tradition, and integrity that requires both physical dexterity and complex decision-making. It made its official debut as a medal sport in the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano Japan.

2011 South Carolina Curling
Championship Standings