Lewis - new captain

The newly-elected RMGC Board of Management for 2006/2007 will be composed of Paul Stoner - chairman, Victor Satariano - vice chairman, John Lewis - Captain, William Beck - secretary and Ian Restall - member.

The slimline board of only five members will be responsible for the overall policy of the club, development and finances.

All golf matters will henceforth be dealt with by the Captain and his appointed committee.

The task is not an easy one and entails overseeing competitions, handicaps and social functions.

Additionally, the Captain's Committee acts as watchdog over club discipline, catering and clubhouse standards.

Captain's profile

John Lewis was born in Essex, England, in June 1944.

He is a career policeman and was employed by the Metropolitan Police Service from 1964 until his resignation in 1991, having attained the rank of Detective Chief Superintendent.

He has vast experience in detective training and police work both in the UK and overseas, particularly in the Bahamas and the Philippines.

Lewis is married to Kathy and they have a daughter, Emma Kate.

Luke, a Great Dane, is the fourth member of the family.

This will be Lewis' second stint as RMGC Captain, having already served in 1997/98 when he had to cut his captaincy short by three months in order to take up an overseas post.

MGA Council

For ease of administration and, for this year only, the council elections for the recently revamped Malta Golf Association were held concurrently with those of the RMGC.

The association's objective is to act as the governing body for the sport of amateur golf in the Maltese islands and is duty bound to promote the game locally.

The association also officially represents the sport of golf within sports governing bodies in Malta and golf authorities abroad.

These include the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews, the International Golf Federation and the Mediterranean Golf Federation.

Plans are afoot for Malta to join the European Golf Association and this is seen as its next natural step.

Any properly constituted golf club or society may join the association and members of such club or society shall have a vote within the association, subject to the provisions of its statute.

Competitions round-up

The official competitive season has come to a close.

There are surely very few clubs in the world that organise at least two weekly competitions from September through to June.

Additionally, the club has competitions on all public holidays as well as playing seven rounds of the Fenston Cup on Sunday. Finally, there are eight KO cups to vie for and the results for all of these are now in.

Two of the individual KOs were won by Peter Satariano. He beat Tony Vella in the Scratch and Lew Collins in the Le Meridien.

In the two other individual competitions, Ken Waddington overcame past winner Nick Laferla in the Creasy Cup while Benjie Mangion had the better of Peter Dimech in the R&A Trophy.

Benji Mangion again figured in the Glover Cup, this time partnered by his father, Alex, beating the other father-and-son partnership of Lino and Peter Satariano. The Foursomes Challenge was won by the Maurice Gruppetta/Natal Azzopardi tandem over Simon Micallef Stafrace and John Rizzo Naudi.

In the mixed competitions, J.J. Micallef and Valerie Simpson had the better of Mike Bennett and Manuela Roth. The Rundle Rose Bowl saw Nick Urpani and Anna Van Den Bossche overcome Richard and Jackie Reid.

Order of Merit

As was to be expected considering his consistent form through the season, Peter Satariano finished top of this year's Order of Merit with 304 points, pipping Tony Vella by just nine points.

The following four placings went to J.J. Micallef (255), Ken Waddington (250), Nick Beck (243) and Chris Bergedahl (196).

Three of the top six spots went to U-18 players. Only two outside the first division feature in the top 20, prompting the question as to whether the current points awards system needs revising.

Order of Merit placings in each of the three handicap divisions determine the selection of eight of the players in each side of the annual Malta vs The Rest match.

The Championship

As happens every year, the club championship produced its fair share of emotions culminating in a worthy win for Tony Vella.

The event is held over three consecutive days and is played off scratch, meaning that no player has the luxury of falling back on his handicap as is the case in most competitions.

To add to the difficulty some holes are played off rarely used back tees.

Tony Vella set the pace by shooting a creditable 72 on the first day.

Considering he had not been playing due to injury, Nick Borg was a surprise second two shots back.

Alfred Zammit followed with a 76, tied third with Warren Alcock.

Order of Merit winner Peter Satariano made up the top five a shot back. The stage had been set for an interesting second round. The windy conditions on the second day made play very difficult.

Nerves must have played a part too as all of the previous day's leaders except Borg failed to break 80.

Nick Laferla's 75 was the best score of the day, no doubt aided by his ability to keep the ball under the wind. Meanwhile, Borg's 77 earned him the overall lead with a two-day total of 151, followed by Vella, 153.

The third day saw a return to better scores uppermost of which was Satariano's 75. Zammit again posted a sub-80 score while Borg slumped to an 86. But it was Vella's 77, added to his previous rounds of 72 and 81, that clinched the 2006 championship.