2015 GSOC Tour Challenge
| 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge | |
|---|---|
| Host city | Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Arena | Paradise Double Ice Complex |
| Dates | September 8–13 |
| Men's winner | Team Koe |
| Curling club | Glencoe CC, Calgary |
| Skip | Kevin Koe |
| Third | Marc Kennedy |
| Second | Brent Laing |
| Lead | Ben Hebert |
| Finalist | Brad Gushue |
| Women's winner | Team Tirinzoni |
| Curling club | Aarau CC, Aarau |
| Skip | Silvana Tirinzoni |
| Third | Manuela Siegrist |
| Second | Esther Neuenschwander |
| Lead | Marlene Albrecht |
| Finalist | Rachel Homan |
2016 » | |
The 2015 GSOC Tour Challenge was held from September 8 to 13 at the Paradise Double Ice Complex in Paradise, Newfoundland and Labrador. It was the first Grand Slam event of the 2015–16 curling season for both the men's and women's World Curling Tour.
In the tier 1 events, Kevin Koe defeated Brad Gushue on the men's side, Koe's fourth slam title. On the women's side, Silvana Tirinzoni won her first slam by upsetting Rachel Homan in the final.
the tier 2 winners Jim Cotter and Kerri Einarson both qualified for the 2015 The Masters Grand Slam of Curling.
The event introduced the curling world to a new kind of sweeping strategy employed by the Gushue rink. Up until this season, most curling teams would use two sweepers for each rock thrown, but the Gushue rink only used one at the Tour Challenge. The thought process by the Gushue team was that having two sweepers would "cancel out" the directional sweeping of each other. The change in sweeping strategy by the team marked the beginning of a tumultuous curling season which led to the banning of new brush head fabrics as part of the "broomgate" scandal.