The collective sigh of relief that rang out around the 18th green at Emirates Golf Club's Wadi course was as audible as it was heartfelt.
The Professionals had reclaimed the Dubai Golf Trophy against their Amateur opponents after a titanic two days of matchplay golf by the slenderest of margins with just one match of the 32 left on the course.
When young Eric Hesson's tricky putt to halve the match slid agonisingly past the hole, Richard Sheridan claimed the vital point to achieve the 16.5 the Pros needed to lift the prestigious Trophy for the sixth time in its eight-year history and deny the hugely talented Amateurs their first back-to-back success, following their 21-11 demolition of the Pros last year.
The spirit of the match was encapsulated in what ensued. The Pros, ecstatic with their victory, nevertheless contained their joy and offered handshakes, congratulations to each other and generous commiseration to their opponents, and teenager Hesson in particular, who was understandably, but not deservingly, feeling he had let the side down.
Hesson should not reproach himself. He, and the amateurs, lose nothing in this narrowest of defeats. The match had swung to and fro since the first day's fourballs and foursomes which ended tantalisingly poised on an 8-8 knife-edge going into the final day's 16 singles matches.
A putt lipping out here, an unfortunate lie there, the most delicate of chips and the bravest of approach shots had been all that had separated the sides during two days of high-class matchplay golf. Incredibly, six of the singles matches were decided on the 18th and final hole. With just a half point extra from any of them, the amateurs would have been celebrating.
Instead it was Elliott Gray and his team who lifted Dubai's "Ryder Cup". Gray said: "Golf is a game for gentlemen and there were 34 out there both days."
Dubai Golf Trophy: Pro skipper could ‘sense the victory'
Professional team captain Elliott Gray was quick to pay tribute to his team after they regained the Dubai Golf Trophy in a thrilling match against the country's top amateur talent.
"The team played very well," said Gray, Golf Operations Manager at Arabian Ranches. "There were some outstanding individual performances.
"But the main objective for me was to ensure we won, nothing else. I had a few old friends like Peter Downie and Adrian Flaherty ready to pounce on me if we lost, so I was very happy on Sunday afternoon!"
Gray revealed that he sensed victory would be theirs a little before the dramatic finale of Richard Sheridan winning on the 18th green against Eric Hesson. "I think when Alan Mackenzie, Malcolm Young were up and Richard Sheridan and Greg Holmes were fighting back in was when I started to believe we would win," said Gray.
Amateurs captain Steve Kelly was generous in his praise of his opponents. He told XPRESS: "It is always a pleasure to play against the professionals and Elliott and his team fully deserved their victory.
"I was fortunate enough to witness some great golf over the two days and could fill your pages with an account of some of the outstanding shots I witnessed. I am incredibly proud of the amateur team not just because of their golfing exploits but at the way the whole team conducted themselves.
"Their sportsmanship and etiquette were beyond reproach. The team rallied around each other and we almost pulled off what would have been the first back-to-back win," said Kelly, an Emirates flight simulator engineer.
Kelly had got his side off to the perfect start on the final day with a 1-up victory over the Professional Order of Merit Champion Simon Payne. But Kelly said: "To be fair I was lucky to get Simon on an off day.
"We were both a bit scrappy. A couple of bad breaks for Simon got me back in the game. After going 1-up on the 15th I said ‘hang in there for three holes'.
"Going out of bounds on the last wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but again Simon had a tough lie and his approach found the water, allowing me to scrape the win."
While Kelly was securing that point, his non-playing opposite number was biting his nails as a spectator. "Maybe next year I will peg it up," said Gray. "If I do let's hope Matthew Turner and Joel Neale are playing somewhere overseas!" he joked.
Early on the final day it seemed the Amateurs were in pole position as Vikram Judge, Khalid Yousuf, Neale and Turner all cruised to wins. But the Pros hit back through Steve Hubner, David Gray, Nick Oakley, Young, Stuart Fee and Luke Cantelo and it became clear that the match would hinge on the matches involving Pros Jamie Wood, Mackenzie, Holmes and Sheridan, which were all destined to go to the final hole.
Sean Thornberry courageously won the 18th hole against Wood to rescue a half point, Ariel Ignacio withstood a late run by Holmes to win as did Alan Mackenzie for the Pros against Jamal Saab. It left the score at 15.5-14.5 for the Pros with Sheridan and Eric Hesson level coming down 18.
Sheridan hit a magnificent approach to 10 feet putting him in pole position and when Hesson narrowly failed to get up and down, the Professionals had regained the Trophy.
Amateur leading lights: Young stars impress the pros
Professionals skipper Elliott Gray heaped praise on the two young amateur stars, Joel Neale and Matthew Turner and predicted a bright future for them if they can develop their play even further.
"The young guns are very impressive," he said. "Turner and Neale, in my opinion, are the best two players out there.
"I hope they can start playing in more international events and start to rub shoulders with players of equal calibre.
"They don't want to get stuck in the big fish, small pond scenario.
"They should be looking further afield. I believe they are ready to compete with the best amateur international players in the world."
Turner, who qualified for the Dubai Desert Classic this year and already plays off a handicap of plus two, certainly intends to pit himself against the best amateurs in the UK over the summer. He said: "I will be playing in the English Amateur Open in July."
Turner, 17, already has a "road map" to tour professionalism worked out. He has ambitions to attend Stanford University in the US, whose famous old boys include Tiger Woods, and play on the US collegiate golf circuit before turning pro after completing his education.
