It began with twenty-one hopefuls and ended with a brother bested. In a tournament defined by tight margins, dramatic comebacks, and sudden-death shootouts, it was Denis Duncan who stood tallest when the dust settled — a new name etched onto the EuroDov Tour’s most gladiatorial trophy.

This year’s Matchplay Championship, one of the purest tests of character and skill in the EuroDov calendar, didn’t just deliver a worthy champion. It gave us a saga.
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The Format: One-on-One Until the Last One Stands

Played over five rounds, with full handicap allowance applied, the Matchplay format strips golf to its psychological core. Every shot is either a weapon or a wound. There’s no second-place buffer. No safety net. Each round: win or go home.

What makes this format especially absorbing on the EuroDov Tour is the presence of handicaps. A 15-handicapper can beat a single-figure tour winner if they find rhythm, belief — and maybe a hot putter. It’s chess. It’s poker. It’s war. And this year, it was magnificent.
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Round One: Tight Margins, Big Statements

The tournament’s opening skirmishes revealed a pattern that would define much of the championship: margins as narrow as a ball’s roll.

The standout of Round One? Stevie Orr, who dispatched Jim Robertson 3&2, the kind of dominant result rarely seen on a day when every other match went to the 18th or beyond.

And then came the first of several epic duels. In a match that needed extra holes, Denis Duncan edged past Ally Greenshields on the 19th. The first sudden-death warning shot of many.
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Round Two: Giants Clash and the Field Narrows

The second round ramped up both quality and tension.

Daniel Peck — one of the game’s rising tacticians — cruised past Greig Baxter 3&2, asserting himself as a man to watch.

Stevie Orr remained red-hot, dismantling Scott Gowens 4&3 in one of the round’s surprise margins, given Gowens’ usual matchplay resilience.

Meanwhile, Denis Duncan was back in overtime, again prevailing on the 19th, this time over Graeme Connor. Two rounds, two sudden-death wins — Duncan was becoming battle-hardened.

Elsewhere, Richard Mair held firm to knock out the in-form Adam Blyth 1Up, Paul Gowens ousted Callum McNeill 4&3, and Alan Duncan continued quietly progressing with a solid 2Up over Kevin Brannan.

Stuart Allan, the final man through, beat Craig Miller 1Up, setting up a heavyweight quarter-final field.
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Round Three: Grit, Class, and Family Stakes

Quarter-final day delivered four captivating ties.

Paul Gowens vs Richard Mair pitted two Tour stalwarts against each other in what many dubbed a “shadow semi-final.” Gowens edged it 1Up, using every ounce of experience.

Alan Duncan, still unspectacular but unshakable, got the better of Stuart Allan 2&1. It was clinical, controlled, and as always with Duncan — cold-blooded.

Meanwhile, David McColgan bested Daniel Peck 3&2, a result that surprised many given Peck’s brilliant form earlier in the season. McColgan’s trademark back-nine steel was evident, closing out with a flurry of fairways and dagger putts.

And then there was Denis Duncan, once again going beyond regulation — for the third match in a row — and once again winning on the 19th hole, this time against a fierce Stevie Orr.

At this point, Denis had become a myth — three sudden-death wins, three opponents slain under pressure, and now a semi-final beckoned.
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Semi-Finals: The Family Fork in the Road

The draw now set up the possibility of an all-Duncan final — but with two enormous hurdles in the way.
Denis Duncan vs David McColgan

If Denis had been Houdini through the rounds, McColgan was his cold, calculating opposite: clinical in closing, especially on the back nine. But in their clash, McColgan couldn’t shake Denis off. Hole after hole, they traded blows, neither blinking.

18 holes weren’t enough. Again.

At the 20th hole, Denis pulled another miracle from his bottomless bag — his fourth extra-hole win in as many matches. This time, it meant a place in the final.

Alan Duncan vs Paul Gowens

This was a contrast in styles — Gowens’ tidy, methodical ball-striking against Alan’s more flamboyant creativity. But in matchplay anything can happen.

Alan turned the screw early and never let up. A 4&2 win marked his most emphatic result so far, and he strolled into the final as the marginal favourite.
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Final Showdown: The Duncan Duel Unpacked

The Matchplay Final was always going to be special — not just for the stakes, but for the surname shared by both finalists. Alan vs Denis Duncan, big brother versus little brother, was more than a championship bout; it was a sibling rivalry elevated to the highest competitive stage. The Pitffirane layout — familiar ground to both — played firm and true, and the match that unfolded was a slow-burning thriller, one that turned not on a single swing, but on psychological attrition.

From the outset, neither brother gave much away.

Front Nine: Early Nerves and Missed Chances

1st Hole – Both players opened with fives — although halved hole may have settled nerves, the golf was suffering, neither player finding the fairway off the tee, and messy scrambling required from both.

2nd – Alan struck first. A regulation 4 against Denis’s 5 gave him the early lead — calm and controlled.

3rd – But the pendulum swung back immediately. Alan’s 7 on the par-four third —the result of a missed fairway to the right requiring a penalty drop from the trees — handed Denis the hole with a 6, and brought the match back to all square.

On lookers were already asking “where were the players from the semi-final?”

4th – At all square the players sent two great drives up the middle – the first of time the pair hit the fairway in the semi final. The only thing that separated them was poor putting from Denis, the first of the day and Alan Duncan was 1Up once more.

5th – Alan Duncan’s tail was up but when Denis found the green following Alan’s miss to the right he was in trouble. After two terribly chips from Alan Duncan the hole was conceded and we were back to all square.

6th – Alan struck back immediately. Denis Duncan sent a thunderous drive down the 6th but Alan followed suit, a deft chip from Alan put the pressure on Den and after Alan secured the birdie it was back to 1Up for Duncan the Elder.

The middle holes showcased the tension.

7th – Both players halved the hole in fives, showing discipline and restraint.

8th – Under pressure from Alan’s good play in the last few holes Denis Duncan topped his tee shot off the 8th tee, with Alan down the middle of the fairway his back was against the wall and when he carded a 7 to Alan’s 5 it was an uphill struggle to catch his brother who was now 2Up.

9th – Denis regrouped with a great tee shot and all look likely to be 1Up at the turn but as Denis steadied himself over a 4 footer, a distance he hadn’t missed all day in the semi-final or in the final to now, he would miss the putt and find him self 2 down after 9 holes.

it was hard to not to sense that putt was going to linger in the younger Duncan’s head for sometime.
Back Nine: The Slow Creep of Pressure

The back nine is where Denis Duncan transformed from challenger to champion.

10th – If Den’s putt on 9 was going to have an effect, then the 10th was only going to compound it. Alan found the fairway and Den the trees. Den could only punch it to the fairway, but then watched Alan pull his 3 wood into the trees, when Alan dropped and replayed he was lying 4 50 yards short of the green.

Den then played his 3rd into the greenside bunker, but you couldn’t help sense the momentum on this hole was with him.

Alan settled over the ball and from 50 yards found the bottom of the cup, with a stroke, secured a 4 than Den couldn’t match from the bunker.

From the glimmer of hope Den had he found himself 3 down and up against it.

11th – Both made 5s — scrambled bogeys under pressure. A key halved hole. And Alan’s chest very firmly puffed out as he remained 3Up.

Enter the golfing gods and the momentum swing of all swings.

12th – Alan steps up to the tee and carves one so far right, it was nearly off the planet. Denis calmly sends his tee shots down the centre. After a few tree trouble rescue shots and a wedge to the left edge of the green Alan Duncan conceded the hole with his brother lying 25 feet from the pin for a 3.

13th – A real turning point. Denis with the honour sends an iron to the heart of the green, Alan carves it right again. Much like the 5th he has two poor chips and still doesn’t reach the green and concedes, his lead now just 1Up.

From this moment on, Denis never looked back.

14th – Alan’s 6 to Denis’s 5 closes the gap and the players are All square with 4 to play.

15th – Denis with the honour piles on the pressure with a drive that splits the fairway. Alan, still battling the rights carves his off to the right rough again. This time his second shot is his undoing slicing one out of bounds. When Den sent a wood up the middle of the fairway to 90 yards short of the green Alan Duncan conceded the hole and finds himself 1 Down for the first time in the match.

But Alan didn’t go quietly.

16th – Alan made a bold statement with a 4, after two bad drives, Alan’s drives sticks like glue on its landing, and Denis has to watch his skip through. The ensuing putt off goes Alan’s way, and the match is square with two to play.

17th – Both Aland and Denis shape great shots around the corner of 17, Alan is first to go and sends his wood way right again. Denis, launches his wood right over the hill and sits in the drivers seat.

When Alan finds his shot a wedge to the heart of the green is matched by his brother, it’s a putt off and when Alan three putts Denis has a 6 footer to go 1Up and sinks it to take the lead with 1 hole to go.

18th hole – Denis, with the honour steps up and sends a drive low and left, but in no trouble at all. Alan Duncan with the match on the line carves his tee shot right again into what he perceived as trouble.

before the tee has even stopped spinning in the air, he turns and shakes Denis’ hand and concedes the hole and the match.
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A Final Fitting of the Title

This was no blowout. This was two experienced campaigners feeling their way through pressure, familiarity, and fatigue. Alan Duncan, precise through much of the day, lost his rhythm at the wrong moment — with double bogeys on 3, 13, and 15 ultimately proving decisive.

Denis, by contrast, did what he had done all tournament: found a way. He never made fewer mistakes than his opponents — he just made them at smarter times. A champion built not on perfection, but on grit and timing.

He played all five matches, totalled 95 holes, and ended the run by defeating his older brother in a match neither will forget.
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Legacy and Reflection

In a field of 21, Denis Duncan beat:

• Ally Greenshields (19th hole)
• Graeme Connor (19th hole)
• Stevie Orr (19th hole)
• David McColgan (20th hole)
• Alan Duncan (2Up)

Five matches. Four overtime thrillers. One family duel. One trophy.

If EuroDov Matchplay is a crucible, then Denis emerged as steel. This was more than a win. It was a campaign — each match a war, each win a notch in legend.
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Other Standouts Worth Remembering

• Stevie Orr’s 3&2 and 4&3 wins in early rounds were some of the most dominant golf of the week.
• Paul Gowens took down major contender Richard Mair in a gritty 1Up effort and was excellent until the semi-final.
• Daniel Peck, fresh off his Montgomery Cup win, looked smooth and composed — his 3&2 win over Baxter showed class.
• And David McColgan, always a danger, delivered two strong wins and nearly denied Denis in the semi-final.
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A Champion of Fire and Nerve

There are matchplay winners. And then there are matchplay warriors.

In 2025, Denis Duncan became the latter. His name now joins the EuroDov roll of honour — not just because he won, but because of how he won.

And somewhere, in the glow of silverware, his older brother might just raise a quiet glass too — because no one knows what it took quite like he does.