Critien local champion golfer of the year

The Royal Malta Golf Club’s official golf season came to a close some days ago with the staging of the Club’s Championship. Sponsored by IIG Bank, the Championship was played over three days under scratch stroke play medal format.

Ruud Critien made a move early in the competition and with a score of two under par for the course led Andy Borg (last year’s winner) and JJ Micallef by two shots. Nicholas Beck trailed by a further shot whilst young Laurens Schulze Doering by yet another shot. Critien then solidified his position on the second day with another fine display of 3 under par to lead by four shots ahead of Beck whilst Micallef and Borg slid to third and fourth places trailing Critien by six and eight shots respectively.

In normal circumstances, Critien had just to show up on the final day but the game of golf has a habit of showing that it remains the master until the last stroke is played. Indeed, whilst Critien struggled to retain his form Borg, playing in one flight ahead, entered the clubhouse with a magnificent six under par for an aggregate of 201 shots. Critien managed to master a birdie on the last hole to tie Borg and force a play-off. Micallef ended third with a score of 205 whilst Beck surrendered his earlier position to place fourth with a score of 207.

The three-hole play-off was conducted over the 1st, 14th and 18th holes. With a birdie, par, birdie finish Critien sealed his victory to claim his second championship in four years and deny Andy his tenth since 2002.

Also, of noteworthy, was the fine showing of three teenagers in this Championship. The afore mentioned Schulze Doering together with Samuel Reeves and Finley Gratil managed to feature in the first twenty places which bodes well for their future in the game.

BECK WINS THE CENTENARY PLATE

Concurrent with the Championship, the RMGC runs another competition for those players who fail to make the daily cut. Indeed whilst 20 players continued to play in the championship format another 58 finished playing the Centenary Plate tournament under stroke play format with handicap allowance.

Having just failed to make the cut, Simon Micallef Stafrace led the Centenary by a net score of 65 one shot ahead of William Beck and two shots ahead of Sean Bradshaw. Micallef Stafrace suffered on the second day with a net score of 78 and was unable to feature on the podium despite a valiant effort with another 65 on the third day.

Bradshaw, on the other hand, led after the second day after returning a net 66 to put him two shots ahead of Beck and Martin Azzopardi who, with a net score of 65, leapfrogged the rest of the field.

Playing together in the final day these three players had to also endure the game’s sarcasm. Bradshaw struggled on the very first few holes eventually leading to a final net 78. Azzopardi and Beck continued to match each other. They were both two under their handicap after nine holes and remain locked throughout the remaining holes both returning a net 69 for an aggregate of 204 over the three days of the competition.

The rules dictated a countback procedure to declare a winner which favoured Beck by a mere 0.4 over Azzopardi. Andy Holland placed third with only one shot back.