A couple of favourites felt the sting of defeat in the first draw of the Pinty's Grand Slam of Curling WFG Masters in Okotoks, Tuesday, October 25.

Calgary's Kevin Koe fell 7-4 to Saskatoon's Steve Laycock, while Chestermere's John Morris was an 8-3 loser to Winnipeg's Reid Carruthers.

For his part Koe says wins won't be coming easy.

"It's a tough field, but that's what makes these events so good. First one of the year and I know everyone's geared up for it. Obviously you always want to win your first game, but if you happen to lose one, you've still got a good chance to come back."

On the women's side, Calgary's Chelsea Carey snuck past Russia's Anna Sidorova 4-3, while Edmonton's Kelsey Rocque, easily handled Sweden's Alina Paetz, 7-1.

The Wednesday, October 26 morning draw has Sweden's Anna Hasselborg facing Kerri Einarson, from Winnipeg and Scotland's Eve Muirhead battles Korea's Eunjung Kim on the women's side.

In the men's draw Sweden's Peter De Cruz faces the U.S's John Shuster and Scotland's David Murdoch takes on fellow scot, Kyle Smith.

They hit the ice at 9 o'clock.