A WORLD-CLASS field of curlers took to the ice yesterday as the Ramada Perth Masters championship began.

The annual event, which is being held at the Dewar’s centre, features the best in curling with a top prize of £5000.

Some of Scotland’s top curlers will face players from Canada and continental Europe, with the championship running until Sunday when the final takes place.

David Murdoch, Scotland’s world champion of 2006 and recently crowned European gold medal winner, is the favourite to win this year’s title. He will face stiff opposition from the likes of Canadian curlers Kerry Burtnyk and Ed Werenich, both past world champions.

Yesterday’s draw sees David Steel from Scotland against Glen Howard of Canada, Alan Smith face Carsten Svensgaard of Denmark and David Murdoch battle it out against Floris Van Imhoff of Netherlands.

Peter Louden, chairman of the organising committee of the Masters, said, “We have a truly world-class field assembled for this the 32nd Perth Masters with a number of elite curlers from Scotland and overseas returning once again to compete for the top prize of £5000.”