The re-match between Ewan Scott and Bradley Neil has been talked about for a year and Scotland’s two outstanding golf prospects have delivered by reaching the final of the Scottish Boys Championship at Monifieth.
The top two seeds in the championship have come through a gruelling week of play with considerable levels of expectation heaped on them for the final that all neutrals wanted to see, a repeat of their outstanding contest in the quarter-finals at Murcar last year.
St Andrews’ Scott, 17, played some of the best golf of the week to defeat Stuart Easton 5 and 4 in his quarter-final yesterday but needed a big rally in the semi-final against his long-time friend and club colleague Ben Kinsley, coming from three down after six to win 2 and 1.
Blairgowrie’s Neil, also 17, has had an almost seamless progress through the championship and has played only 94 holes out in seven rounds, never going beyond the 16th green.
Yesterday he accounted for two players from the Glenbervie club in Stirlingshire, Blair Carnegie by 5 and 4 in the quarter-final and Ben Craggs, son of Catriona Matthew’s coach Kevin, 4 and 3 in his semi.
It’s quite a rarity for the two top seeds to survive to reach the boys’ final, with the most recent example probably coming in 1994, when Steven Young won the second of his three successive titles in beating Euan Little at Dunbar at a time when the seedings were unofficial.
It’s likely to be close, with the pair matching each other almost shot-for-shot in the semi-final, both finishing with one-under figures.
“We talked about the possibility of this match last night, we talked about it when we met two weeks ago and I think we’ve maybe been talking about it ever since last year’s game,” joked Bradley.
“There’s been a lot of expectation on the both of us to get to this stage and it says a lot of us both that we’ve managed to get there.
“I don’t know who you could say was the favourite, Ewan’s had a great winter and is probably more experienced than me overall, but I’ve been playing pretty well this week and haven’t had to play the last two holes, although I’ll have to at least once in the final.”
The pair have gone head-to-head just twice; in that quarter-final at Murcar in last year’s Scottish Boys, when Bradley was four-up after five holes but three-putted the final green to lose to Ewan by one hole, and in a challenge match among the boys international squad at Forest Pines in England when the roles were reversed.
“I was three down after eight that time and came back to beat him on the final green, so obviously I’m hoping that’s the game the final will follow,” added Bradley.
“It should be a great game and there’s pressure on us both, on Euan because he won’t want to lose the final again and on me as well because of the expectation.”
Bradley has never trailed in the championship so far and the only time he’s played the 16th in seven ties was in the near darkness of Wednesday night, when he played on rather than have to come back to finish against Paul Dorrian on Thursday morning.
Scott, meanwhile, has actually played a hole more than Neil despite missing the first round with a bye and he’s certainly had more crises to deal with than his rival, not least against his great friend Kinsley in the pick of the semi-finals.
After playing three-under golf in breezy, freezing conditions in his quarter-final, the top seed looked a little off early on in the semi and was quickly three down to Kinsley’s solid game, topped off by a fine birdie at the sixth.
However, Kinsley three-putted the seventh and the momentum change was almost immediate, Scott landing a fine birdie at the eighth with a very un-links-like flop shot and drawing level when Kinsley three-putted the tenth.
They traded blows until the 15th, when Scott hit a wedge to three feet for birdie, and then followed it with a hammer blow of a 25 foot putt to birdie the 16th as well, closing the match out with a half on the penultimate hole.
“There wasn’t any reason to panic, I had quite a few matches like that in South Africa,” he said, recounting his reaching the semi-finals of the South African Amateur Championship in February.
“You just have to stay patient for your chances to get back and take them when they come.”
It also helps that Scott rarely looks even slightly flustered or under pressure, no matter what the state of the game, and he’s the steady one to Neil’s perhaps more ebullient nature.
“It’s not something I try to cultivate, it’s just my personality, I don’t get excited about things,” said Ewan.
“ I know it’ll be a great game. I’m really looking forward to it.”