Players' Championship
The Players' Championship, currently known as the AMJ Players' Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the final event of the Grand Slam of Curling tour, and is formerly the championship of the World Curling Tour season.
From 2016 to 2019, it was the penultimate slam of the curling season, and the last of the four "majors". The event was one of the original Grand Slam events when they were instituted in the 2001–02 season for men and for the 2005–06 season for women.
History
The event began as the "VO Cup" before the Grand Slam era in 1993, as part of the very first World Curling Tour season. The event was known as the VO Cup for two seasons before title sponsor Seagram's Distillery pulled out. With no sponsor, the 1995 event was saved at the last minute, and continued the next season thanks to a TV deal with TSN.A women's event was introduced in 2006.
From 2007 to 2009, it was a qualifying tournament for the Canadian [Olympic Curling Trials], and had barred foreign teams from entering. Scotland's Eve Muirhead became the first non-Canadian skip to win the event in 2013, while Sweden's Niklas Edin became the first non Canadian skip to win the men's event in 2017.
To date, Edmonton's Kevin Martin has won the most Players' Championships with 8. On the women's side, Winnipeg's Jennifer [Jones (curler)|Jennifer Jones] have won the most championships with 6.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both the 2020 Players' Championship and the 2020 Champions Cup were cancelled.