Micallef, 12, leaves his mark in Championship

The highlight of the competitions calendar at the Royal Malta Golf Club - the Championship - started on May 28 when the competition open to all players with a handicap of 18 and under got underway at Marsa

In all, 71 golfers took part including the higher handicaps who were playing for the Centenary Plate. At the end of the first day, the cut was established at 83 with the main contenders being Danny Saliba, Nick Borg and Nick Laferla - 75, 74 and 73 respectively.

Among the three Third Division players who made the cut and qualified to play in the second day of the Championship was J.J. Micallef. At 12 he was the youngest golfer in the field. Micallef was joined by C. Sullivan and M. Vella.

Day Two took the usual turn with Laferla now falling to fifth, Saliba just making the cut and Paul Stoner, Borg and Tom Davies taking first to third places respectively. After the day's play, the cut was established at 163 and 15 players qualified.

The final day saw Stoner storming into the lead with Borg experiencing a self-inflicted disaster on the 13th which took him out of contention.

In the end it was Stoner who emerged overall winner with a total of 228, a clear five shots ahead of his nearest rivals.