MICHAEL Hunt had to play the waiting game as he clinched his first Northern Order of Merit title of the year on Sunday.

The Pleasington golfer had to sit in the clubhouse for three hours before he knew he'd clinched the Formby Hare, as well as the aggregate prize for the weekend's two merit events.

But Hunt found it easy to relax as the scores rolled in -- after all, it was his chilled-out attitude that took him to victory in the back nine.

A remarkable run of four birdies flipped his score from two over to two under and, added to the one under score he shot in the Merit competition at Southport the day before, he clinched the aggregate prize with 285.

Hunt said: "I was first out so I knew I would be in the clubhouse for three hours, watching everyone come in and hanging on and hanging on.

"But there was nothing I could do, I just had to wait and see and sit back."

Hunt made a bad start to Sunday's second round, after a solid first 18 in which went round in level par, as his birdie on the first was followed by three bogeys to leave him two over.

But then he found the magic to shoot birdies on 11, 12, 14 and 17, and he could even afford to miss another putt from 4 feet.

Hunt said: "I started badly. I hit a few bad shots and if you miss a green or put it in the wrong place with a loose drive at Formby, you get punished.

"Unless you are Seve you can't get up and down from nowhere. I bogeyed three, five and nine and was two over.

"On the back nine I just didn't put any pressure on myself and let it happen . I hit every green.

"I wasn't saying, 'I have to do this, I have to be five under, I have to be level par' I just chilled out and if it happens it happens.

"I knew I was playing good enough and knew the putts were on track and on line. I knew they were going to drop, I just had to keep giving myself chances.

"I played with Nicky Bell, who won at S&A the previous day. He was six in front of me from the first day but and he was playing well, knocking it close.

"But he fell back in the afternoon, struggled a bit and ended up shooting one over."

The Northern Order of Merit victory comes as a big boost to Hunt, who is channelling most of his efforts into that this year.

The Lancashire player thinks he might struggle to make the handicaps required for tournaments like the British Amateur Championship, so is abandoning that in favour of making a push for the Merit title.

"I'm concentrating quite hard on it this year, I'm not going to play too many national tournaments," added Hunt.

"I didn't have a great year last year but I'm knocking on the door of a plus 2 handicap again."