IN the battle of the brothers on Sunday, it was Paddy Young who came out on top against his younger sibling Oliver at Cleckheaton in the Bradford Golf Union’s Amateur Matchplay final.

The Northcliffe pair had never faced off in a final before, and they had to put sentiment to one side in a well-contested showpiece, which Paddy won 3&2.

Reflecting on the occasion, Paddy told the T&A: “To be honest, it did feel like a final.

“We didn’t talk to each other around the course and we took it seriously.

“It was nice to play him in a final, but once we’d teed off, we both had our golf heads on and wanted to win.”

Paddy was able to pinpoint exactly where the game was won and lost, saying: “Ollie probably hit the ball better than me on the day, certainly on his approach to the greens, but I holed everything inside 15 feet.

“I had birdies like that on seven and nine, which put me four up through nine, but Ollie was with me on every hole on the back nine.

“I was outside where he was on hole 16, but I’ve holed it from 15 feet and he couldn’t make his putt so I won.

“He struggled with his putting all day, when that’s usually the best part of his game.

“When I was four up after nine holes for example, that just showed was how well I’d putted, it wasn’t like there was a lot between us.”

Paddy used to caddy for Oliver, and has admitted previously to knowing his brother’s game inside out.

Asked if that helped on Sunday, he said: “I just focused on myself.

“I know Ollie’s a good golfer, so I just had to control what I could and hope for the best.

“Luckily I holed everything, and that was what paid off for me.”

Paddy had won a couple of coveted Northcliffe club events a few weeks before this final, and was determined to add the Matchplay to his trophy cabinet.

He reflected: “The Hudson Cup and Munro Scratch were Northcliffe-only events, whereas this was separate with the Bradford Union, so it wasn’t exactly a treble.

“But I’m not as good at matchplay as Ollie normally, so for me I really wanted to win a matchplay event, and to do it with the Bradford Union one is special.”

As Paddy mentioned to the T&A previously, he had broken his foot earlier this season.

Asked if he could have expected his season to come to close with the Amateur Matchplay title, he said: “Certainly in my first couple of weeks back, I didn’t think I’d be able to compete for trophies.

“I felt the season might be a write-off, but then I’d played well in the last two years, so I knew I could compete at the top level.

“I didn’t expect in, say, mid-June, that I’d have won what I have by mid-September.”