Borg leads the way

Inaugurated in 1963, the RMGC Championship 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 46 years ago by Rear Admiral David William Maurice Boyle, Viscount of Kelburn. Last year, the bar for this competition was raised and standards have continued to rise.

The juniors are one year older and one year more experienced and that has shown in their results.

Andy Borg never really looked threatened and the three young men who were within striking distance were J.J. Micallef (Jnr), Chris Bergedahl (Jnr) and Nicky Beck (although not a junior he is not yet 21 years).

Other players who performed well were Nicky Laferla, Charles Robson, Paul Stoner, Tony Vella and Kim Borg.

Over the three days, the lead was consistently with Borg. He won on all three days with scores of 65, 71 and 67 as the second and third place alternated between Micallef, Bergedahl, Beck and Robson.

Borg went on to win the championship with a final score of 203. Micallef (212) was second and Beck (219) third.

Barclays brought over their senior executive from Jersey to follow 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 with a handicap of maximum 18, the Centenary Plate is designed as a full handicap Medal competition for those failing to make the cut.

Furthermore, as the championship progresses and the number of players goes down to 27 on Day 2 and 20 on Day 3, those out of the reckoning join the Centenary Plate to maintain interest for all participants.

The Plate was won by Danny Holland with a Medal score (adjusted for handicap) of 206. Benjamin Mangion (208) was second ahead of Michael Balzan (211). Once again the juniors are showing the way forward for golf in Malta.

The Order of Merit, sponsored by Lacoste, was topped by Bergedahl with 438, followed by Borg, 365, and Paul Stoner, 318.

The BOV Eclectic competition winner was Borg followed by Bergedahl and Peter Satariano.