CRISTINA AND LINDTVEIT WIN THE MGA SHIELD 2023

13/11/2023

The Malta Golf Association Shield was set up soon after the MGA was founded in 2006 and has been played annually since then as a two-day mixed individual competition 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.

Kindly sponsored for the second year running by CROSSCRAFT, 88 men and 12 women entered to play in the competition hosted at the Royal Malta Golf Club.

At the end of the first day, Eileen Borg and Doreen Balzan led the women with a net medal round of 68, two strokes ahead of Laya Cristina. The two leading ladies struggled in the second day of the competition and ended up in third and fourth place respectively. Guan Mingqi 38 points was the best ladies’ score for the second day and placed her overall second for the competition just one point shy of Laya’s score who thus claimed the best women prize.

Only sixteen men players played to their handicap or better and at the end of day 1 only four strokes differentiated these men. Tomas Bergendal led the pack with a net 64 followed by Mika Kujapelo and Ian Wirth just one stroke behind. Unfortunately, personal circumstances prevented Tomas to defend his lead leaving the door open for his fellow competitors. 44 points from Patrck Baldacchino and John Zammit Tabona allowed them to hug the first spots for some time at the end of their round until 42 points from Tore Lindtveit secured the best man place again by a mere one-shot margin. Mija’s and Ian’s failure to perform in a similar fashion as their first round allowed Patrick to claim second place two shots ahead of veteran Eugene Cranley whose 40 points leapfrogged him to third place.

Sponsor prizes were forwarded as below (limit of one prize per player):
1st Best net aggregate score from a woman player LAYA CRISTINA
2nd Best net aggregate score from a woman player GUAN MINGQI
3rd Best net aggregate score from a woman player EILEEN BORG
4th Best net aggregate score from a woman player DOREEN BALZAN
5th Best net aggregate score from a woman player MARIA WOODWARD
Best net score on Day 1 from a woman player SUE WIBREW
Best net score on Day 2 from a woman player MAIKE BEEKMAN
1st Best net aggregate score from a man player TORE LINDTVEIT
2nd Best net aggregate score from a man player PATRICK BALDACCHINO
3rd Best net aggregate score from a man player EUGENE CRANLEY
4th Best net aggregate score from a man player JOHN ZAMMIT TABONA
5th Best net aggregate score from a man player JOSHUA CORNEWALL WALKER
6th Best net aggregate score from a man player MIKA KUJAPELTO
7th Best net aggregate score from a man player PETE SATARIANO
Best net score on Day 1 from a man player TOMAS BERGENDAL
Best net score on Day 2 from a man player FRANCO DEGABRIELE

Prizes were distributed in the presence of Mr Robert Farrugia Vella (CROSSCRAFT Managing Director), Mr Nicholas Urpani (RMGC Vice-Captain), Ms Doreen Balzan (RMGC Lady Captain); Mr Kenneth Micallef (MGA Treasurer) and Mr William Beck (MGA President).