Rick Thurston (Dundas, ON) finished 3-2 in the 32-team qualifying round. . In their opening game, Thurston lost 7-4 to Pat Ferris (Beamsville, ON), then responded with a 9-2 win over Jeff Young (Simcoe, ON). Thurston won 6-4 against Darryl Prebble (Toronto, ON), then won 6-4 against Brent Palmer (Burlington, ON). Thurston went on to lose 6-4 against Rob Lobel (Whitby, ON) in their final qualifying round match.
 
Thurston earned 2.700 world rankings points for their preliminary round wins. For week of the event schedule, Thurston did not improve upon their best events, remaining at th place on the World Ranking Standings with total points. Thurston ranks th overall on the Year-to-Date rankings with points earned so far this season.