NO WONDER Jamie Mountain regarded his triumph in the Bradford Amateur Strokeplay Championship at Keighley as 'a very special win'.

It was the 43-year-old's first major individual district title, having been a competition regular since his junior days.

It came after a miraculous recovery in a sudden-death shoot-out against former club-mate Rob Hillas, which made up for his play-off defeat nearly 12 months earlier in the Bradford Open.

And the Shipley member had finished joint level with Hillas after 36 holes after recovering from a triple bogey at the second.

Perhaps it was just meant to be for a player who has been a stalwart of Bradford Union tournaments for more than two decades but who confessed: "I never really went to win it if I’m honest. I just turn up to make the numbers up. I'm more of a team player than an individual."

Mountain has been part of Scratch League and Yorkshire Inter-District League title success, and won the Inter-Club Foursomes Matchplay crown with Calum Hey in 2014.

But he took centre stage at Keighley, beating former Northcliffe club-mate Hillas at the third extra hole after the pair had finished level on six over par.

Asked if his nerves were jangling in the play-off, he said: "No, to be honest, because I felt out of it on the first extra hole. Anything just to keep it going after that was unbelievable."

Victory looked in the bag for Bingley St Ives member Hillas when Mountain pulled his drive into the trees and failed to get clear of them with his second shot.

A four-iron through the trees left him just over the back of the green in three but with Hillas certain to make a par four it looked all over.

However, Mountain explained: "I had a good lie off a little downhill slope. Rob was two feet away in three so I just tried to get my chip close. It just kept rolling and rolling and went in. It was like Larry Mize when he chipped in to win the Masters!"

Mountain was still in it and he joked: "Rob said ‘good shot’ but he called me something else after that, though I didn’t quite catch it!

"If it had been strokeplay I would have been happy with a seven, so to make four was just surreal."

A three-putt from Hillas at the next saw Mountain escape again before the Bingley player found himself in the trees himself at the third extra hole.

That saw Mountain with a shot in hand on the green, though Hillas holed a tough eight-footer to ensure his Shipley opponent had to can a nervy short putt to win it.

"It was just a relief to actually win an individual play-off and a Bradford Union title," admitted Mountain.

"I missed out to Jordan Clements in the Bradford Open play-off last year so that made this one sweeter.

"Rob’s won two Bradford Amateur titles already (in 2002 and 2005) so you could say it was my turn.

"To beat him, a good friend and a good player, means a lot.

"We go back over 20 years and the Union president Charlie Cox said he’d never seen a match played in such a spirit.

"It didn’t matter who won and who lost. It was always going to be played in a good spirit."

The former Hollins Hall player dedicated his trophy to Shay Grange, where he practises and receives coaching.

He said: "I'd like to thank Jordan Gibson there and especially Roy Penney, who has helped me work on my swing.

"I'm putting the trophy behind the counter there to thank them for all the hard work they’ve done.

"I'm also grateful to all the members at Shipley who have texted me, rung me, emailed me and thanked me in person, especially the 8 to 15 team. I play down there on a Friday and watch them play and I've had texts from people I didn’t even know."

Mountain was one of the few players to take advantage of having courtesy of the course at Keighley in the build-up and felt that preparation was all-important.

He said: "I think there was only me and someone else out of the field who went for a practice round on the Thursday before.

"It helped big time and made all the difference, and I'd like to thank Andy Utley at Keighley Golf Club for giving us courtesy."

Mountain rated the course 'fair but challenging' on a day when he was the only player to break 70 from what was a small field of 33 but which included several Bradford Open and Amateur champions.

His level-par second-round 69 made up for an opening 75 which had come about largely due to that triple bogey six at the par three second.

He said: "Two 66s were never on but you could shoot par. I was disappointed with a first-round 75 and was up against it from the get-go but I managed to turn it round."

Bingley's Terry Brushwood and Woodhall Hills duo, Marc Read and Ben Rhodes, finished one shot behind the joint leaders on seven over.

Results: 1 Jamie Mountain (Shipley) 144 (75, 69), 2 Rob Hillas (St Ives) 144 (73, 71), 3 Terry Brushwood (Bingley St Ives) 145 (73, 72), 4 Marc Read (Woodhall Hills) 145 (72, 73), 5 Ben Rhodes (Woodhall Hills) 145 (71, 74), 6 Adam Charles (Bradford Moor) 148 (77, 71), 7 Calum Hey (Shipley) 148 (75, 73), 8 Chris Green (Cleckheaton & District) 149 (77, 72), 9 Jordan Clements (Northcliffe) 149 (76, 73), 10 Harry O’Callaghan (Woodhall Hills) 152 (79, 73), 11 Jack Hall (South Bradford) 152 (75, 77).