Yorkshire golf: Leeds off the mark in YIDU with derby win over Bradford

Victory tasted all the sweeter at Headingley as it came against local rivals Bradford, who had led 8-4 after the foursomes session.

“It really was unbelievable,” said a delighted McKee, who is leading the side for the first season, and who laughed as he added: “Do you remember the ‘Miracle of Medinah’? This was the ‘Miracle at Headingley’.”

Bradford had got off to a fast start by winning the top two foursomes tussles against class Leeds pairings – Cookridge Hall duo Adam Frontal and Tom Broxup, and Ben Firth (Moortown) and Matt Pearson (Wetherby).

“That was like a nightmare opening for us,” continued McKee, “although to be fair, Ben and Matt were one under for the match and their opponents were three or four under.

“And in the top match Tom Broxup had a putt from about six feet to halve the match at the last and unfortunately missed. A half would have made it 7-5 to them at lunch, which makes a heck of a difference.”

Despite the four-point gap, McKee retained faith in his line-up and made this clear to them ahead of the 12 singles matches.

“I tried to gee them up ahead of the afternoon and said, ‘Come on, we can do this’.

“I told them that I knew we could pull it out of the bag, and we did – it was amazing, absolutely fabulous.”

Firth gave Leeds the early momentum they required by gaining a 5&4 win in the top singles tie and earned special praise from his leader.

“Ben was fantastic. He had a five-hour drive down to Sussex to play in the Tillman Trophy immediately after, but he wanted to play for us,” said McKee.

“That showed his commitment and we need players like that, people who are passionate about playing for Leeds.

“You’re representing about 40 golf clubs in the area and it’s a great honour.”

With Leeds close to the 19pts needed to win, they were dealt a blow when Wike Ridge’s Barry Hardcastle was closed out by Baildon’s Ian Martin, who holed his approach shot for an eagle two at the 17th to win 2&1.

But Leeds’s Paddy Noble stayed calm under immense pressure in the final match to deliver the half that meant Leeds won rather than tied the encounter.

“There were about 30 to 40 people at the back of the green and Paddy got up and down to secure the half for the victory,” said McKee. “Paddy was absolutely amazing.”