Locals retain 'The Sword'

Team Malta maintained its stranglehold on 'The Sword' when they won the 33rd annual Malta vs The Rest match at Marsa last month - an own record-equalling consecutive fifth win for the Maltese.

The tournament is symbolised by a magnificent limited edition Wilkinson Sword which was presented to the Royal Malta Golf Club by the British Residents Association in 1973, to be played for by teams made up of Maltese nationals versus a team representing expatriates living in Malta.

This year, The Rest included seven Britons, two Japanese, a German, a Norwegian and, paradoxically, a Maltese golfer.

This was the second year the match took place over three consecutive days. Friday's round consisted of six foursomes while six four-ball-better-ball matches were played on Saturday. The all-important round on Sunday saw the 12 players on each side pitted against each other in individual matches.

The selection of teams takes into account players' performances during the previous season.

Eight of the golfers on each side earn their place through an order of merit system.

The Captain and three other wild cards make up teams of 12 golfers in each side.

Malta's team was composed of Nick Beck, Chris Bergedahl, Kim Borg, Nick Borg, Bernard Bugeja, David Debono, Victor Denaro, Peter Dimech, J.J. Micallef, Danny Saliba, Peter Satariano and Alfred Zammit. William Beck was non-playing captain.

The Rest featured Warren Alcock, Per Bergedahl, Peter Cuthbert, Hideoi Hirao, John Lewis (captain), Ray Mountford, Geoff Pickles, Hans Proell, Paul Stoner, Yasuhiro Uechi, Tony Vella and Ken Waddington.

The Maltese selection included three juniors - Beck, Bergedahl and Micallef.

Veteran Alfred Zammit continues to play golf at a standard that is the envy of younger men. He has now represented Malta several times in every decade since the 1970s.

The draw also produced the anomaly of a father, Per Bergedahl, playing for The Rest, while his son, Chris, represented his birth country, Malta.

Friday's session, played in foursomes, ended in each side winning three games. The most significant win was the one of Denaro-Micallef over Proell-Waddington 8-6.

The second day went the same way with each team acquiring a further six points. At 12 points each the stage was set for a nailbiting encounter in the singles.

Traditionally, Team Malta does not fare well in singles and the first two matches to finish bore this out. Chris Bergedahl succumbed to Vella and Zammit lost to Uechi... the first time that Zammit had lost a singles match in this tournament.

But Malta soon drew level with Dimech beating Mountford 4-3 and Debono obtaining a gritty but very important win over Stoner.

Then followed Micallef's significant half against the mighty Alcock. This left the match all square with seven games still out on the course and this is where Malta kicked in with five consecutive wins, one loss, and a final win. The score for the morning ended 8-3 for Malta.

Final result - Malta 35 points, The Rest 25 points.