On a scorching Friday evening at Kinross Golf Courses—the spiritual home of the EuroDov Tour—two of the Tour’s most seasoned competitors went head-to-head in the final of the 2013 Cup. The trophy at stake: the revered EuroDov Handicap Matchplay Championship. The protagonists? The enigmatic Alan Duncan, a Tour staple known for his gritty determination, and Scott Gowens, a player equally capable of the sublime and the shaky, chasing a rare third consecutive season with a trophy.

For 18 holes, they battled not just each other, but momentum swings, nervy putts, and the haunting pressure of legacy. It was an encounter that swung like a pendulum and boiled down to a fraught finale that would make even the most seasoned matchplay veterans wince. In the end, it was Scott Gowens who emerged with hands on the Cup—and a little chip on the shoulder.

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A Final Worthy of Kinross

Set amidst the rolling hills of Perth and Kinross, the Montgomery Course offers no easy path to victory. Its layout is tight but fair, punishing waywardness, and demanding precision—particularly under matchplay pressure. With its greens quickened by a dry Scottish summer and the crowd filtering in for the final showdown, conditions were prime for a classic.

From the moment Alan Duncan and Scott Gowens shook hands on the first tee, there was a certain tension in the air—a mix of mutual respect and fierce competitive fire. “Heard whispers before the match that there was ‘only one winner’ and a supposed treble on the cards?” Gowens would later remark in his post-match interview. “All joking aside though, a great match versus a great opponent.”

The opening salvo only set the tone. Gowens took the first hole with a tidy bogey to Duncan’s double, before the pair halved the second. Duncan struck back on the third with a well-earned par to square the match. “I felt that I was in for a battle,” Gowens said. “Good golf played across the first three holes set the match up well.”

It was anything but routine from there.
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Domination from 4 through 8

Golf is often won in bursts, and Gowens delivered a tour de force across holes 4 to 8 that proved decisive. From the short par-3 4th through the reachable par-5 8th, Gowens won five consecutive holes—a stunning stretch of sustained pressure and error-free golf.

He played that stretch in 23 strokes to Duncan’s 31, a swing that left him 5 Up at the turn. The highlight came on the 5th, a tight dogleg par-4, where he rolled in a 12-foot putt for bogey that was enough to beat Duncan’s double. On 6 and 7, more solid play from Gowens and errant tee-to-green execution from Duncan extended the gap.

“I told myself walking up 9 that this isn't done,” Gowens said. “I had to get through the next few holes and try to keep or extend the lead. The next few holes definitely didn’t go to plan.”

Indeed, they didn’t.
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The Back Nine Collapse—or Comeback?

If the front nine belonged to Gowens, the early back nine was Duncan’s redemption arc. With three consecutive wins on holes 10, 11, and 12, he clawed back into the match in emphatic fashion.

“I did my best over the next few holes to throw away the lead,” Gowens admitted candidly. “Alan did play some great golf through the next stretch.”

The 10th was a messy affair, but Duncan’s bogey was good enough. At the 11th, a tricky par-5, he took full advantage of Gowens’ wild tee shot and bunker trouble. And on 12, Duncan’s solid par to Gowens’ triple brought the match back to Scott 2 Up.

“I couldn’t pinpoint where it was going wrong,” Gowens said. “A few bad tee shots and poor approach and bunker play—I saw the lead slipping fast.”

That lead shrank even further on the 15th.
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Holding Steady at the Edge of Collapse

With the match now at Scott 2 Up through 12, the momentum had palpably shifted. The next two holes, 13 and 14, were halved—nervy bogeys by both players that steadied the ship.

“It felt good to stop the bleeding,” Gowens said, “but I’d be lying if I said I was confident on the 15th tee.”

He had good reason to be uneasy. Duncan pulled another back on 15, capitalizing on Gowens’ double bogey with a steady par. Suddenly, with three holes to play, the match was Scott 1 Up.

Duncan, surging with belief, looked poised to complete one of the greatest comebacks in Cup history. Gowens, visibly tense, needed something—anything—to halt the charge.
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Wedge Magic on 16

With the match teetering, Gowens delivered the shot of the day on the par-4 16th. After finding the fairway, he clipped a wedge tight to about six feet. Duncan, now chasing, missed the green left and couldn’t get up and down.

“Felt that I clawed it back and steadied the ship,” Gowens recalled. “Felt confident for the first time on a tee box for a while.”

Gowens calmly converted his par, regaining a 2 Up advantage with just two holes to play.
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Chaos at 17 and the Final Stand

The 17th, a short but perilous par-3 surrounded by tree trouble, brought another twist. Gowens, trying to cut a fade, overdrew his tee shot straight into the bushes. “I picked my line, no fade—straight into a bush,” he said. “I felt I can’t believe it’s come down to this.”

He conceded the hole.

Once again, the match narrowed to Scott 1 Up, and a tense final hole awaited.

With everything on the line, both players stood on the 18th tee—Gowens clinging to a thread of a lead, Duncan poised to force extra holes. But fate intervened. Duncan took three off the tee after an errant drive and never recovered. Gowens, with a straightforward tap-in after a cautious march down the fairway, finally sealed it.

“A massive sense of relief was felt,” he said. “I could just bump my way down the fairway and walk off with the win after a nervy back nine.”
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A Champion’s Reflection

The victory marked Gowens’ third consecutive season with a Tour trophy—a feat matched by few in EuroDov Tour history. “If I’m being honest I have no idea [how I’ve managed that],” he said. “I just keep showing up trying to play my own game. Very inconsistent at times, but when it works, it works.”

When it works, indeed.

The 2013 Cup Final was not a flawless display of golf—but it was a raw, human, and utterly compelling battle between two warriors of the EuroDov circuit. It had drama. It had swings. It had bunker meltdowns, nervy concessions, and one unforgettable wedge on 16.

And in the end, it had one winner—Scott Gowens.
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Final Thoughts

“I think I did okay,” Gowens summed up, a bit sheepishly. “Thankfully the front nine lead was enough to see out the win.”

It wasn’t just okay—it was courageous, compelling, and quintessential EuroDov. In a year where the Tour continued to grow in stature, it found its perfect final in Kinross: a course that asks questions, and two players determined to answer.

The 2013 Cup Final will live long in the memory—not for perfection, but for passion.

And perhaps for proving that in golf, especially matchplay, there really is never “only one winner.”