HOWES DUO WIN THE MGA SHIELD 2018

04/03/2019

Rebecca and Paul Howes managed to make the ordinary extraordinary this weekend as they were declared joint winners of the twelfth edition of the Malta Golf Association Shield sponsored by NESCAFÈ DOLCE GUSTO. Due to the weather conditions in 2018, the competition had to be postponed a later date in the golf season. As in previous years, the tournament was played in a medal stroke play for the first day and a Stableford for the second day with the Stableford points subtracted from the medal net scores to determine the overall placing.

24 ladies played their first day on Thursday 14th February. Rebecca Howes put herself immediately in contention registering the best net score of 71, two shots better than Mia Allsopp and Martina Keskintepe.

The men made up the numbers for the competition when 86 showed up to play their first round a couple of days later. With an extraordinary net score of 59, Ian Wirth led the field a staggering six shots ahead of Alex Mizzi. Kenneth Micallef trailed by a further shot whilst five other players trailed by another shot.

Sunday’s Stableford scores saw significant changes in the leaderboard. Maria Woodward’s 35 points was the second-best score and leaped frogged her to fifth place. Allsopp’s 33 points was enough for her to retain second place whilst Keskintepe’s 25 points pushed her down to seventh place. Rebecca continued where she left off on day one and with 38 points secured the best score for the ladies with a winning margin of seven points.

The best man on Sunday was Alexander Hillblom with a magnificent 43 points. Both Wirth and Mizzi struggled to mirror their previous round excellence and with score of 32 and 33 saw them drop to second and seventh place respectively. Whilst another nine players managed to hit their handicap or better, three exceeded even this by having scores in the forties. These were Nick Johnson and Quint van Beek both on 40 points and, of course, Paul Howes’ 41 enabling him to pip Wirth by a mere one point to claim the Shield for the men.

Sponsor prizes were forwarded as below (after count back and limit of one prize per player considerations – where applicable).
Best net aggregate score from a youth golfer [«21] SAM REEVES
Best net aggregate score from a senior player [»65] EUGENE CRANLEY
Best net score on Day 1 from a lady player MARTINA KESKINTEPE
Best net score on Day 2 from a lady player MARIA WOODWARD
4th Best net aggregate score from a lady player MAIKE BEEKMAN
3rd Best net aggregate score from a lady player MIHO KARASAWA
2nd Best net aggregate score from a lady player MIA ALLSOPP
Overall Best net aggregate score from a lady player REBECCA HOWES
Best net score on Day 1 from a gentleman player ALEX MIZZI
Best net score on Day 2 from a gentleman player ALEXANDER HILLBLOM
4th Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player KENNETH MICALLEF
3rd Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player PETER SATARIANO
2nd Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player IAN WIRTH
Overall Best net aggregate score from a man player PAUL HOWES

Prizes were distributed in the presence of Mr Conrad Mifsud (NESTLÈ Malta Senior Product Manager Coffee); Ms Gabriella Galea Gusman (NESTLÈ Malta Brand Manager Dolce Gusto); Ms Marianne Schaefer Noll (RMGC Lady Captain), Mr Thomas Jacobsen (RMGC Captain) and Mr William Beck (MGA President).