Even the best scriptwriters, though, would have baulked at the suggestion that one year on from the amazing climax to the 2024 Island Team Scratch League final, which came down to the last putt on the final green, the two players who had been thrust into the spotlight back then would be back in it – or in matter of fact, in setting sunlight – in 2025 with the Batiste-Le Prevost Trophy at stake once again.
And – spoiler alert – just like Rocky Balboa when he faced Apollo Creed in their epic rematch, Arthur Evans learnt from past experience and got the better of a reigning champion, Island title holder Lewis Marley, second time around.
The mathematics were slightly different this time.
With the first four rubbers having all come to a conclusion and with Marley having already added a nearest-the-pin bonus to the Rocque Balan Royals’ tally, they led 13-11 as the anchor match arrived at the 17th tee with Marley having just birdied the previous hole to get back to all-square.
All their teammates, whether using the best vantage point of the 18th tee box or those congregated next to the final green having just finished their own rubbers, wanted to make certain of the equation.
It was simple, Evans had to win his match for L’Ancresse Martellos to regain the trophy.
However, it was Marley who was in prime position off the tee at the penultimate hole while his opponent had a blind approach having pushed his tee-shot to the right.
Evans’ second came up just short of the green whereas Marley found the putting surface, just beyond pin high with a decent look at birdie.
If the tension needed to be ratcheted up any more, the Martellos player hit a cracker of a third with his putter and he, like his watching teammates all looked to the heavens in disbelief when it hung on the edge of the hole but refused to drop.
Marley was understandably quick to concede the par and then lined up his own attempt for a three. He did not know it, but if he holed it, the Royals would retain the title.
It missed on the low side, though, and so they walked to the last all-square with Evans and the Martellos in the last-chance saloon.
But then came the unforeseen, dramatic twist – Marley caught his tee shot heavy, so much so that he immediately chuckled in incredulity, and the ball came to rest well before the pathway crossing in front of the green.
This was Evans’ chance and he grabbed it with both hands, knocking a fine tee shot 15ft to the left of the flag.
Marley was not closer than that in two, having chipped up to the green, and when his par putt stayed above ground, it left his opponent with two putts for the win.
Evans took a deep breath and to the delight of his teammates, he cosied the ball up to hole-side to clinch victory for the Martellos – by a single point across the whole evening, 15-14.
Fittingly, the earlier foursomes had reaped six points apiece as two exciting rubbers both went the distance with the sides claiming one win apiece.
In the opener, Daniel Griggs and Dale Rutledge were up against this year’s Elite Foursomes champions Jack Mitchell and Stuart Wallbridge.
A tight encounter was always on the cards and so it proved, with the Royals duo making a decisive move on the 16th where, with his unique one-handed putting style, Rutledge drained a 20ft birdie effort down the slope to give them a 2 up lead.
Mitchell was not about to let them rest on their laurels, though, and made an even longer putt for birdie on the 17th to take the match down the last, but a half in threes saw the Royals pair claim the spoils.
The finale of the second foursomes was even more gripping.
The pairs were all-square in the middle of the 17th fairway from where Dave Jeffery hit a brilliant approach to 5ft.
Tom Le Huray’s reply looked terrific in the air and had it released on landing, it would have crept inside the opposition’s ball. But instead it spun back to leave Sean Mills with a must-make 12-footer. Make it he did, albeit at dead-weight with the ball dropping on its last revolution just to increase the excitement.
He had another birdie putt to make on the last green, too, but this one was from much closer as Le Huray hit a cracker to barely a yard from the hole.
Jeffery’s response was a fine tee shot of his own, but Dave Robinson was unable to convert the birdie from 15ft and Mills stepped up to snatch the 1 up win with a two.
Le Huray’s contribution to that victory also secured him the Scratch League MVP award for the season having won all four times he played.
The first of the singles matches was the one convincing win of the night and the bonus point that Martellos captain Danny Blondel earned in beating Tanner Austin inside 15 holes – 6 & 4 to be precise – was to prove vital.
The other singles rubber pitted two former Island champions against each other and it proved a nip-and-tuck encounter with not much in it throughout, but Conor McKenna eventually got the better of Steve Mahy, winning on the 17th green.
That result set the stage for the anchor match and the ending that surely points to a ‘decider’ between Evans and Marley again next year...
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