ANDY WHITE picked up his first Mitsushiba Northern Order of Merit title in six years at the Royton Sword.

The 38-year-old Pleasington player is thought to be the first golfer to win a Northern Order event using a broom-handled putter, which he started using six years ago.

"It saved my golf," he said. "I was close to packing up because my putting was so bad."

He carded rounds of 68 and 72 to win by one stroke from Manchester's Graeme Jackson. White moves back up the order of merit to third, 100 points behind the leader, veteran Alan Squires.

"I don't know if I can catch Alan," said White. "But if I win a couple more events, who knows.

"My handicap is 0.1 away from plus one and I want to get to plus one properly and stay there until the end of the season because you can enter three or four major tournaments like the British Amateur championships and the Lytham Trophy next year that you wouldn't always get in to as a scratch player." NICK UTTLEY, Andy White and Tony Flanagan are battling it out in the top five of the Mitsushiba Northern Order of Merit.

White, from Pleasington, lies third with 360 points while Nelson players Uttley and Flanagan are fourth and fifth with 305 and 300 respectively.

Nelson's Daniel Nutter is 11th on 190, club mate John Cockroft is 16th with 135 and Blackburn's Mike Brooks is 17th with 130.

Accrington's Ian Ready and Burnley players Ben Scott and Michael Hunt lie joint 19th with 100 points. Northern Order Furey bid for £20,000 win PLEASINGTON professional Ged Furey is hoping to bag his third £20,000 DeVere Hotels PGA North Region Championship at Heron's Beach in Blackpool, which starts on Wednesday.

Former Blackburn driving range pro Jeff Mathews, Wilpshire's Simon Townend and Burnley's Simon Eaton have also entered. NICK Dougherty, pictured, will fly out to Georgia, America, this weekend with the Britain and Ireland squad for the Walker Cup.

The 19-year-old Shaw Hill player pulled out of the English Men's Amateur Championships this week to prepare for the Cup, which has never been won by the Brits on American soil.

Dougherty is planning to turn professional after the Cup. Fixtures Today -- ELGA Boys' championship, Rossendale

Tomorrow -- Burnley Charity Pro-Am; Clitheroe Junior Open, Rishton Company Day

Saturday -- ELGA v North West Manchester, Nelson

Sunday -- Blackburn Open Mixed Greensomes; Darwen Open Mixed Greensomes; Great Harwood Open Fourball; Marsden Park Municipal Trophy Open Singles; Nelson Trophy (36 holes); Wilpshire Open Team Am-Am

Monday -- Pleasington Pro-Am

Tuesday -- ELGA Juniors v Fylde Juniors, Rishton