The most memorable match in the club’s history came when Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen played one another in May 1923.

The 22-year-old Sarazen, fresh from his US Open and PGA wins the previous year, had sailed for his first trip to Britain while the flamboyant Hagen was preparing to defend his Open crown at Troon – Sarazen was said to have bought a woollen jacket in Jock Hutchison’s pro shop in a bid to counter the cold weather.

Rich clubs in the States had failed with offers of $8,000 a match to get the two to meet head on but when they were paired in the Yorkshire Evening News tournament semi-finals as Headingley succeeded in hosting their unofficial meeting for ‘The Championship of the World’.

This is how the Yorkshire Post reported the ‘needle’ affair.

“A big crowd were rewarded by as keen a match as one could wish to see. Nothing was given away and the two players made each other play little putts which in other circumstances would have been conceded. It was not until the 12th that either man took a five and Hagen’s score for the 17 holes played was approximately 64.

“Sarazen got the first lead by winning the 2nd in three, when he ran down an eight-yard putt. At the short 3rd Sarazen laid his tee shot about four feet from the pin but he missed the putt! The first weak hole that Sarazen played was the 7th where he was short with his tee shot and too strong with his pitch. At the turn the game was still all even.

“Hagen got the lead for the first time at the 10th where Sarazen was short with his drive. Hagen became two up at the 12th but made a mess of the short 13th. He put his tee shot among whin bushes on the side of the hill, picked out, and after playing to the green, knocked his ball away.

“Hagen, however, became dormie two at the 16th where he got down a long putt. At the 17th he hit a perfect tee shot, the ball finished within a few inches of the flagstick. Sarazen found himself having to hole his tee shot to keep the game alive. It was a hopeless outlook and when Sarazen cut his tee shot well to the right.”

But the final would not go as expected as Hagen lost to Guernsey’s Herbert Jolly.