Scotland bounced back from opening defeats by Sweden and Japan with victories over Canada and hosts United States at the World Men’s Curling Championship in Utah.
But it still leaves Ross Whyte’s rink, defending the title won by Bruce Mouat’s rink last year, sitting sixth in the round-robin having played one more game than the teams above them.
The Scots never looked back after scoring two at the opening end against 2018 Olympic champion John Shuster’s USA rink.
Another double at the fourth end put Whyte’s rink 4-2 ahead and, although the Americans pulled to within a point at the seventh, the Scots kept control of the match to win 6-4.
The Scots had been edged out 6-5 in their opener against seven-time world champion and 2022 Olympic gold medallist Niklas Edin’s Swedes and then lost 7-5 to Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi’s Japanese rink.
Both those sides sit below Whyte’s fifth-placed rink in the world rankings, with Edin in 13th and Yamaguchi three places further back.
However, the Scots responded with a convincing 8-3 win over Matt Dunstone’s fourth-ranked Canadians, scoring three at the fifth end to take a 7-2 lead proving crucial as they won after just seven ends.
Whyte told World Curing: “That was really important. We actually felt that we played quite well yesterday and could easily have come out on the right side of both games.
“We know, if we can get ahead early, that’s our best chance against great teams like Canada.”
The Scots built on that by beating Shuster’s rink, who are currently ranked eighth.
Whyte and his rink of Robin Brydone, Euan Kyle and Craig Waddell are representing Scotland after Mouat, who is currently ranked first in the world, elected not to compete in this edition after their silver medal for Great Britain at the Olympics in Cortina last month.
The second and third ranked sides in the world, Brad Jacobs’ Canadians, who beat Team GB to Olympic gold, and Yannick Schwaller’s Switzerland are also not competing in Utah.
Whyte’s Scots next face Konrad Stych’s Poland on Sunday, with the rink ranked 90th in the world buoyed by a fine 11-4 win over Marc Muskatewitz’s 20th-ranked Germany – their country’s first-ever world championship victory.
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