Published: April 13, 2025
Downloads: MALTA JUNIOR OPEN 2025.pdf
The 7th edition of the tournament set a new record when 101 young players travelled from 15 different countries to join another 5 local members to participate in the event which is endorsed by The R&A towards the World Amateur Golf Ranking points system. The three largest participating nationals hailed from Austria, Germany and Turkey.
The format of the competition was medal stroke play with the winner declared as the player having the best gross aggregate score over 54 holes. Three categories were in place – one for the under-21, one for the under-18 and another for the under-16. The conditions for the competition, took care of gender equality by making sure that both the best boys and the best girls in each category were equally awarded with an additional criterion that the joint winners of the Malta Junior Open were reserved for those players in the under-18 or under-16 category.
Of the 106 participants, 69 were boys and 37 were girls. On paper, the best two boy players had a handicap of +3.4 and + 3.1 whilst the two best girl players had a handicap of +4.5 and +3.6. Overall, 19 players registered with a scratch handicap or better than scratch and another 53 players had a handicap better than 5.0.
The tournament was characterized by strong winds throughout the first day, in the morning of the second day and from late morning till the end of the third day. Out of 318 scores returned over the three days, only thirteen boys and one girl were to level par 68 or better and only one aggregate score was under par for the course. The best aggregate score from a boy player was 5 under for the course whilst that from a girl player was 10 over par.
The under-21 girls' category was won by Fatima Gul Kus from Turkey. Fatima won the category by default as she was the only player in the category.
In the under-21 boys, Yves Koller from Switzerland – the boy winner of last year's tournament – took a two-shot lead on the first day which he continued to build upon over the next days to finish with an aggregate score of four over par. Jonas Rother from Germany placed second with 13 over par whilst Benedikt Schuster from Germany and Victor Mesini from Austria placed third and fourth with scores of 18 and 20 over respectively.
Maria Kauder from Germany led the under-18 girls for all the three days to finish with an aggregate score of 10 over. On the second day, Serena Falzon Sant Manduca (a national team player) posted the only par round from the girls to leapfrog her into second place which she did not relinquish towards an aggregate of 12 over. Eva Mosslechner and Michelle Wohler from Austria and German placed third and fourth with scores of 18 and 20 over respectively.
Konstanty Luczak from Poland made sure that no one would be able to contend for the under-18 boys category when he posted a 5 under score on the first day. This was achieved through seven birdies and two bogeys and was followed by another sub-par of 2 under for the second day and a 2 over on the third day. Malte Seidemann 1 over par on the first day placed him second but his wo successive over-par rounds dropped him to overall sixth position as four other players returned par or sub-par rounds. Malta's Noah Gratil 3 under on the second day secured him overall second place with an aggregate score of 2 over. Maximilian Franck from Germany placed overall third two shots back. Niels Stots also from Germany placed fourth with 5 over par on countback from Gabriel Cattozzo from France.
The under-16 girls' category was dominated by Austria and Germany. After the first two rounds, Ngoc Mai Nguyen from Germany and Elena Duduleanu from Austria shared the lead by three shots from Sophie Willschke also from Austria. Ngoc Mai held on to her nerves on the last day to claim the first spot with an aggregate score of 17 over par. An 8 over par on the front nine dented Elena's chances and despite her valent efforts on the second nine, she had to relinquish second place to Sophie who finished one shot ahead of her and two shots behind Ngoc Mai. Fourth place was claimed by Chiara Bauer-Mitterlehner also from Austria with 25 over par.
The under-16 boys remained unclear until the last day of the tournament. After two rounds Constantin Bauer-Mitterlehner from Austria and Zack Ribeiro from France shared the lead with just 2 over par for the course – three shots better than three other players. A par and two sub-par rounds from these three players changed the overall final positions with Zack dropping to fifth place and Constantin to fourth place relinquishing third place to Emi Maijala from Finland on countback. A 2 under par for the course for the final round, gave Colin Barmann from Germany first place with an aggregate of 3 over. Emiliano Mendoza-Malherbe from France placed second just one shot behind through a 1 under par on the last day.
According to the terms of the competition, Maria Kauder and Konstanty Luczak were declared winners of the Malta Junior Open 2025.
The other prize on offer was for the best net score from a local player. This was claimed by Zhang Zhetang (Hugo) who played an aggregate of three over his course playing handicap.
Parallel to this event, a subsidiary competition for the RMGC's Junior Academy Eagle players was held. 6 boys and 2 girls started in the tournament which was played in Stableford format from the same yellow and blue tee markers as the main competition. Playing off a course handicap of 27 Jason Li dominated with scores of 46, 39 and 41 points. Alex Mece and Laurent Sukys placed second and third with an aggregate of 101 and 99 points respectively.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I extend our appreciation to the sponsors, the volunteers and to all those who helped to make this tournament a wonderful success.
Our special thanks go to the Royal Malta Golf Club, Visit Malta, Sport Malta and Q-Media for extending their manual and financial support without which the accomplishment of the tournament would have been impossible.
