14-YEAR OLD WINS THE MGA EMIRATES SHIELD

13/10/2010

Junior golfer John Micallef Stafrace, who turned 14 in August, was the overall winner of the 4th Malta Golf Association Shield sponsored by Emirates and hosted at the Royal Malta Golf Club in Marsa.

95 men, 33 ladies, and 4 juniors signed up for the competition based on a two-day aggregate (handicapped) medal. This year’s tournament was characterized by two separate competitions according to the gender. The ladies played their first day on Thursday 7th and the men on Saturday 9th October. The final second day round was held on Sunday 10th October 2010.

The ladies’ first day did not throw any major surprises with two of the best three ladies registering the best scores for the day. Club Lady Champion, Maureen Borg, played a net 68, a shot better than Laine Tutane. These were followed by last year’s MGA winner, Jutta Klotz, with a 72 and Maria Woodward with a net 73.

On Saturday, 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 golfer Luca Caruana was the leader in the clubhouse 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. Play re-commenced as soon as the thunderstorm blew away from over the golf course although by this time a handful of players had unfortunately decided to discontinue their round. Paul Gray, Chris Bergedahl and John Micallef Stafrace were amongst those that continued playing and entered 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. For the ladies, Borg and Tutane played head to head with Tutane playing one shot better than Borg on the day. This made the two ladies tie with an aggregate score of 141 for the two rounds. According to the rules of the competition Tutane was declared the ladies’ overall winner on count back. Senior lady Valerie Simpson had the best score for the day with a net 72.

The leading four men – in reality one man, one youth and two juniors – battled it out together 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 8th 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 5th. Bergedahl and Micallef Stafrace both carded a net 67 but the latter’s one shot lead from the first day was enough to earn him overall winner for the men as well as the overall winner for the tournament with an aggregate of 129. Ken Waddington was the best senior player with an aggregate score of 136 whilst Ray Mountford had the best score (139) as an Emirates Skywards Member.

Paul Fleri Soler, Emirates’ Manager Malta and Cyprus, in the presence of William Beck, MGA President, Ian Macpherson, RMGC Vice-Captain and Joanne Cassar, Lady Captain, presented the winners with their prizes with Liane Tutane and John Micallef Stafrace both receiving the handsome prize - a return ticket for two persons to Cyprus on Emirates Airline and a memento trophy.

The full list of prizewinners is outlined below (after count back and limit of one prize per player considerations where applicable).
Overall Winner: John Micallef Stafrace (62+67)
Overall Best Lady Player: Laine Tutane (69+72)
2nd Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player: Chris Bergedahl (63+67)
3rd Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player: John Iles (66+66)
4th Best net aggregate score from a gentleman player: Nigel Stibbs (73+62)
2nd Best net aggregate score from a lady player: Maureen Borg (68+73)
3rd Best net aggregate score from a lady player: Valerie Simpson (73+72)
4th Best net aggregate score from a lady player: Yvonne van Beek (77+73)
Best net aggregate score from a youth golfer (21 years and under): Bernhard Abele (73+68)
Best net aggregate score from a senior player (65 years and over): Ken Waddington (67+69)
Best net score on Day 1 from a lady player: Maria Woodward (87)
Best net score on Day 1 from a gentleman player: Luca Caruana (63)
Best net score on Day 2 from a lady player: Felicity Dix (93)
Best net score on Day 2 from a gentleman player: Franco Degabriele (65)
Best net score from an Emirates Skywards Member: Ray Mountford (69+70)