Brief Answer:
Read below.

Detailed Answer:
Hello. I am sorry you had to wait for an answer, but you have to realize that at times the doctors may not be available at a particular moment. Also when picking a question to answer we have to think carefully about the possibilities, it is not always as easy and straightforward as it may look and it may take some time.

Coming to your question....I am assuming that there was no other symptoms apart from the pain, no dizziness, nausea, fever etc.

Judging from that description alone it is difficult to reach a diagnosis. One possibility if the pain was situated anteriorly including the face might be trigeminal neuralgia, pain due to damage of the trigeminal nerve, which can produce sharp lancinating short episodes of pain.
Another possibility, more probable if the pain was located more posteriorly might be occipital neuralgia, which produces the same type of pain but due to compression of the occipital nerve exiting from the upper part of the neck, often compressed due to arthritic changes.

However, for any of those disorders the diagnosis can't be made from one isolated episode which has now subsided, only repeated episodes make the diagnosis, for now only observation is recommended, taking advil was fine. It is not uncommon that such isolated episodes remain without a cause either, may be due to muscle tension, often due to stress and anxiety.

While unable to pinpoint the exact origin for now, what can safely be said is that that episode is not indicative of any worrying brain related cause such as stroke, tumor, infection etc in which the pain would be persistent not relieved in a short time. Also would have other symptoms usually.

I remain at your disposal for further questions.

---