European champions, the winners of the most recent of Canada’s prestigious Grand Slam curling tournaments and last year’s Olympians are all representing the host nation at this week’s Mercure City of Perth Masters tournament at The Dewar’s Centre.

Bruce Mouat’s rink, who ended Niklas Edin’s four year reign as European champions in November, are top seeds, but know they face a serious challenge from Ross Paterson’s men who claimed that Grand Slam success by beating Mouat in the final of the recent Boost National in Newfoundland and last year’s Team GB representatives in PyeongChang, now skipped by Glen Muirhead. They have all been given byes to today’s second round, but youngster Ross Whyte, the travelling reserve when Mouat claimed that European title, was among the first in action as the event got underway last night with Ross Whyte, who was the travelling reserve when Mouat won that European title, among the first in action.

Whyte was a quarter-finalist at this event last season when he also skipped Scotland to silver at the World Juniors and the 20-year-old and his youthful team eased into the second round, taking control of their match against Germany’s Team Harsch by registering a five at the fifth end on their way to an 8-2 win.