Teenager prevails in MGA Shield at Marsa

Junior golfer John Micallef Stafrace, 14, was the overall winner of the fourth Malta Golf Association (MGA) Shield, sponsored by Emirates and hosted recently at the Royal Malta Golf Club in Marsa .

Ninety-five men, 33 women, and four juniors signed up for the competition, based on a two-day aggregate (handicapped) medal.

This year’s tournament was characterised by two separate events. The ladies played their first day on Thursday and the men on Saturday. The final second-day round was held on Sunday.

The ladies’ first day did not throw any major surprises. Club cham-pion, Maureen Borg, played a net 68, a shot better than Laine Tutane. They were followed by 2009 Shield winner Jutta Klotz, with a 72, and Maria Woodward, 73.

The men’s competition had to be suspended for over an hour due to the bad weather conditions.

During the interval, word quickly got around that junior Luca Caruana was the leader with a net 63.

As he was one of the early starters, Caruana was fortunate not to have suffered the wet fate of the majority of the field.

Paul Gray, Chris Bergedahl and John Micallef Stafrace were among those who continued playing after the storm and had scores of 64, 63 and 62 respectively. Bergedahl’s score represented a gross 3 under par for the course – a remarkable achievement given the conditions.

The weather on Sunday was much kinder but surprisingly the overall scores did not improve.

Borg and Tutane played head-to-head with the latter playing one shot better than Borg on the day.

This made the two golfers tie with an aggregate score of 141 for the two rounds. According to the rules, Tutane was declared overall winner on count-back.

Valerie Simpson had the best score for the day with a net 72 score.

The leading four in the men’s event battled it out in the second day and three of them were still tied after ten holes.

Caruana could not maintain his first-day rhythm and played a net 73 to finish eighth overall.

Gray’s three bogeys on the last three holes also put him out of contention, at the end finishing with a net 71 and overall fifth.

Bergedahl and Micallef Stafrace both carded a net 67 but the latter’s one-shot lead from the first day of the competition was enough to earn him the title with an aggregate of 129.

Paul Fleri Soler, Emirates Manager Malta and Cyprus, in the presence of William Beck, MGA presi-dent, Ian MacPherson, vice-captain, and Joanne Cassar, lady captain, presented the winners with their prizes, Tutane and Micallef Stafrace both receiving the handsome prize – a return ticket for two persons to Cyprus and a memento trophy.