Having trailed two-time champion Tom Le Huray 3 down through 12 holes, the talented junior fought his way back to knock out last year’s runner-up on the final hole.
It was a remarkable performance from the youngster on an evening when conditions started tough and got tougher, verging on the point of brutal by the time the later matches were coming down the stretch.
But Bowen was fully focused on the job at hand, winning three holes in the trot to get back to all-square by the time he stepped onto the 16th tee.
Probably fuelled by adrenalin, he ended up losing his drive in the murky waters of the douit and went on to lose the hole.
However, a well-constructed par up the hill at the 17th was enough to restore parity as Le Huray three-putted from long range into the wind.
With the wind at their backs going down the last, Bowen perhaps feared going long and ended up miscuing into the green-side bunker.
Le Huray found the front edge of the putting surface, but he was a long way from the hole and then watched as his opponent played an excellent recovery, splashing out of the sand and allowing the elements to push his ball up to around 7ft from the pin.
The former champion started his approach putt 5ft left of the hole, but the wind got hold of it as it lost pace and he was still 8ft away when it eventually came to rest.
He then missed his par putt and Bowen held his nerve to roll his in and claim a memorable victory.
There was another great comeback victory on the night, too, with Roland Mills using his own ‘Aaron Rai moment’ as the catalyst to fight back against Danny Bisson.
Mills felt he had done little wrong in the conditions, but found himself 4 down after 11 before he holed a monster birdie putt on the 12th.
That sparked a sequence of five holes on the bounce for the Royal Guernsey man and he had a 5ft putt to win on the 17th but dribbled it past the hole. He got the job done, though, with a birdie at the last.
In the other half-a-dozen matches that completed the first round, there were few surprises, but the loaded bottom half of the draw has already lost a couple of big names.
Island Men’s Championship
First round, bottom half results
R McKenna beat A Mills 5/3; D Griggs beat L O’Brien 4/3; C Bowen beat T Le Huray 1 up; R Mills beat D Bisson 1 up; J Mitchell beat H Carre 3/2; J Nicolle beat D Robinson 3/2; H Bushby beat G Carre 2/1; J Blondel beat A Northgrave 4/3.
Today’s second round from 4.15pm
H Bushby v J Blondel; J Mitchell v J Nicolle; C Bowen v R Mills; R McKenna v D Griggs; A Orme v D Blondel; D Jeffery v A Eggo; J Tucknott v A Thompson; L Marley v C Elmy.
