Consistent scores land Borg prize

The Barclays Championship at the Royal Malta Golf Club (RMGC) was inaugurated in 1963 and is now the premier competition of the season and closes the official calendar. It is sponsored by Barclays Wealth.

The trophy was presented to the club by Rear Admiral David William Maurice Boyle, Viscount of Kelburn. Over the many years that this competition has been held, this particular year is probably the most memorable as there were nine scores of less than 70 strokes.

The players who contributed consistently to these excellent scores were Andy Borg, who plays off plus 2, Warren Alcock, Charles Robson and Peter Satariano.

Furthermore, there are younger players who are showing steady improvement, namely, Ruud Critien, Chris Bergedahl, Nicky Beck and Truman Addison.

Over the three days, the lead changed on each round with Borg winning Day One but Robson being the better on Day Two and Satariano on Day Three.

However, Borg was the more consistent with his scoring on each day. He won the championship with a final score of 203. Alcock was second (212) and Robson third (213). The podium winners were followed by Critien (214), Bergedahl (214), Satariano (215) and Addison (219).

Barclays brought over three senior executives from London and Jersey to watch the competition and Nigel Stibbs, their CEO in Malta, presented the prizes.

Running parallel with the RMGC Championship was the Centenary Plate. As the Championship is restricted to those who have a handicap of maximum 18, the Centenary Plate is designed as a full handicap Medal competition for the other players. Furthermore as the championship progresses and the number of players are reduced to 27 on Day Two and 20 on Day Three, those excluded join the Centenary Plate.

The format is designed to maintain interest for all participants and not just the best 20 players.

The Centenary Plate was won by Chris Stahl with a Medal score (adjusted for handicap) of 208. In second place was Austin Agius, also 208, and Jan Goransson was third, 209.

The Order of Merit, sponsored by Global Capital, comes to a halt after the championship. The winner was Borg, followed by Beck and Satariano. Throughout the season these golfers have consistently been the top players and achieved the highest scores.

The new season starts in September.