Leeds open with win as they edge Harrogate in tight battle

LEEDS got their Yorkshire Inter-District Union season off to a victorious beginning with a 20-16 verdict against Harrogate at Scarcroft.
Cookridge Hall's Adam Frontal won both his matches as Leeds started their Yorkshire Inter-District Union season with a 20-16 victory over Harrogate at Scarcroft.Cookridge Hall's Adam Frontal won both his matches as Leeds started their Yorkshire Inter-District Union season with a 20-16 victory over Harrogate at Scarcroft.
Cookridge Hall's Adam Frontal won both his matches as Leeds started their Yorkshire Inter-District Union season with a 20-16 victory over Harrogate at Scarcroft.

But captain Nigel McKee admits that he had to endure a few palpitations as no fewer than four of the afternoon singles matches reached the final hole all square.

“It was as close as the score suggests,” said Leeds member McKee, who is now into his third season at the helm of the side.

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“But for Craig Watt (Howley Hall) making birdie on the last rather than his opponent, it might well have been a tie.”

Watt, Leeds’ stroke play champion, put his approach shot to 10ft at the 510-yard par-5 18th while his opponent, Pannal’s Dan White, found a greenside bunker in two.

White played to within six feet from the sand, but missed for birdie after his Leeds opponent had already rolled in his putt for a four.

“Craig canned his and then their guy missed,” recalled McKee. “If it had gone the other way with their guy holing and Craig missing then the match would have finished 18-all. That’s how tight it was.”

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An inability to gain the upper hand during morning foursomes was a failing that had plagued Leeds during McKee’s first season in charge, but appeared to have been banished by and large last year.

However, the hosts found themselves level at 6-6 as they lunched at Scarcroft, not the appetiser their captain had placed on the menu.

“We just didn’t perform in the foursomes in the morning,” he lamented, his top two and fifth pairings winning and the others succumbing.

His team selection plans had taken two big blows when he lost Tom Broxup to injury – the Cookridge Hall man broke his fibula playing football – and Wakefield’s Dan Bradbury, who had to postpone his return from his first year of a golf scholarship in the USA after he helped his college – Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee – reach the national collegiate finals for the first time in their history.

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“Tom Broxup and Dan Bradbury were big misses, obviously,” said their captain. “I had to bring in two young lads and it just didn’t happen for them.

“But all the guys fought hard. The Harrogate team played really, really well and, if you look at Harrogate from last year, I think they finished fourth and they did beat a couple of good sides.

“There are no mug teams out there; they are all good teams. I had a strong side out, but I didn’t have my strongest.

“However, I’m absolutely delighted with the victory, delighted.”

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In Ryder Cup fashion, McKee scurried around the Scarcroft course on a golf buggy to gain intelligence about match situations and offer encouragement as required.

“I knew by asking guys on the six hole and the ninth hole where we stood, and after nine or 10 holes – with 10 players out there – we were either up or all-square in the matches and only down in two,” he recalled.

“I wasn’t overconfident, but I was sure at that point that we would come through.

“To be honest, the class players came through: Craig Watt, the strokeplay champion; Adam Frontal (Cookridge Hall) former Yorkshire champion; Andy Wiltshire (Pontefract & District), who nearly made the European Seniors’ Tour; (Wike Ridge’s) Phil Holmes and Barry Hardcastle, both Mr Reliable.

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“And Steve Cain (Scarcroft), who I am absolutely delighted to have back in the team, a stalwart of the team.

“I have known him for a lot of years and he came through with a victory for us.”

Leeds’ win was forged in the singles in which they prevailed 14-10, with the session’s individual outcomes meaning Frontal, Tom Pilling (Cookridge Hall), Wiltshire, Hardcastle and Cain all ended the day with victories in both the morning and the afternoon.

“We did it in the singles and I always thought we would really, looking at the two teams,” said McKee.

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“The course was in superb condition, the weather was fabulous.

“It did get a bit hairy at one point and I was having to nip round in the buggy making sure that they were following team instructions,” he chuckled.

“There were four games all-square coming down the last and they won two and we won two, so it shared itself out.

“You never know, it could have gone either way.”

The other first-round winners were champions Sheffield (23-13 against Halifax-Huddersfield at Worksop), Bradford (22-14 against Teesside at Seaton Carew), and East Riding (24-12 over York at Forest of Galtres).

McKee’s attention now turns to selecting a side for Leeds’ first away match of the campaign.

They will travel to take on Halifax-Huddersfield at Bradley Park, Huddersfield, on Sunday, June 10.