The Malta Golf Association held the 19th edition of the MGA Shield last weekend at the Royal Malta Golf Club in Marsa, with players enjoying great weather throughout the event.
Sponsored for the fourth year in a row by Crosscraft, the tournament brought together 120 golfers, 99 men and 21 women, for a two-day Stableford competition. On the first day, 38 players matched their handicap, and 12 scored over 40 points. On the second day, 21 players matched or beat their handicap, but only four reached 40 points or more.
In the women’s category, Guan Mingqi led after the first day with 42 points, followed by Daniela Scodamore with 41, Maria Woodward with 40, and Susan Wibrew and Catherine Milet with 39. While Milet kept her position, the rest of the leaderboard changed on day two. Woodward pushed ahead to win her fourth MGA Shield title, with Wibrew finishing second and Scodamore taking third place.
In the men’s category, William Beck topped the first day with 43 points. Close behind on 41 points were Nicholas Urpani, John Fletcher, Nicholas Laferla, Fredrik Johansson and Alexandr Vagimov. Several top players struggled on day two, although Johansson stayed consistent to place second. Aldric Gaudinot Nannan climbed the rankings well, but the overall winner was Rayan Husni Bey, whose final round of 42 points gave him a two-point victory.
One of the weekend’s highlights came from Andrew Borg, who produced a gross score of 64 on day one, making par on 13 holes and scoring birdies on holes 2, 4, 5, 8 and 14.
At the end of the event, Malta Golf Association President William Beck and Royal Malta Golf Club captain Irwin Gratil presented the trophies to the winners.
