Published: April 06, 2026
The 8th edition of the tournament has just been played at the Royal Malta Golf Club over three days in very difficult weather conditions characterized by very strong cold winds, at times reaching gale force, coupled with heavy rain showers. The tournament set a record with 99 participants who travelled from 23 different countries to join another 12 local members to participate in the event which is endorsed by The R&A towards the World Amateur Golf Ranking points system. The four largest participating nationals hailed from Austria, Germany, Poland 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 to be chosen from those players in the under-18 or under-16 category.
Of the 111 participants, 58 were boys and 53 were girls. On paper, the best two boy players had a handicap of +4.1 and + 3.3 whilst the two best girl players had a handicap of +4.1 and +3.7. Overall, 33 players registered with a scratch handicap or better than scratch and another 43 players had a handicap better than 5.0.
Out of 333 scores returned over the three days, only twelve were to level par 69 or better and only two aggregate scores were to level par or under for. The best aggregate score from a boy player was 3 under for the course whilst that from a girl player was 13 over par.
The under-21 girls’ category was won by Julia Bauer from Austria with an aggregate of +27 for the three days. Julia led the tournament at the end of day one four shots ahead of compatriot Elena Doberauer but saw this lead reduced to nothing for the two girls to tie at the end of the second day. Julia then remastered the category during the last round to finally win it by five clear shots ahead of Elena. Third and fourth places were taken by Amalie Stevens Christiansen and Laura Cheng Milsgaard both from Denmark.
In the under-21 boys, a two under par on day one from Oliver Davis assured him the category’s win as his fellow competitors were unable to bridge the gap on subsequent days due to the weather conditions. Oliver travelled from Australia but has also Maltese citizenship due to his mother. His aggregate of one over par was seven shots to the better from Federico Randazzo from Italy. Third place went to Andreas Lozzides from Cyprus and fourth to Benjamin Piesczek from Austria.
In the under-18 girls, after thirty-six holes, Chiara Bauer Mitterlehner from Austria, Maria Khristenko from Latvia, Iiris Matas from Estonia and Deniz Sapmaz from Turkey were all tied in second position a good seven shots behind Isabel Sophie Morato Brede from Germany. A two-over par on the third round from Chiara compared to a nine-over from Isabel Sophie necessitated a sudden death play-off to determine the overall winner of the category. Chiara’s birdie to Sophie’s par, secured her the win. Maria, Iiris and Deniz finished overall third, fourth and fifth respectively.
The under-18 boys’ category was perhaps the most exciting with eight boys playing to level par or under on the first day. Aleksandr Vagimov’s two-under par led the field one ahead of three other players including Stephan Csongei. The latter repeated his performance on the second day to leapfrog Aleksandr by one shot assuring an exciting third day. Whilst these two were battling for the top position, Malte Seidemann from Germany was having the best round out of all the 111 players and came in with the best one round score over the three days with a 3 under par. This secured him third overall place ahead of Malta’s Noah Gratil. Aleksandr – also a member of Royal Malta – duplicated his first-round performance to clinch the first place from Stephan with a three-shot difference.
Two girls from Austria and one from Germany met on the first tee of the third day vying to win the under16 category with only one shot separating them. In the end, Lisa Huszar from Austria managed to secure the first podium place by four shots from her compatriot Paula Dutzler. Germany’s Paula Schmitter took third place one shot ahead of Ada Narin from Turkey. A similar unclarity prevailed in the under-16 boys with seven players with four shots of each other after 36 holes played. A one over par on the final day was enough for Ezra Hartland from England to win the category five shots ahead of Sebastian Aigner from Austria. Emil Maijala from Finland secured third place on count back from Antoni Fijalkowski from Poland.
According to the terms of the competition, Chiara Bauer-Mitterlehner from German and Aleksandr Vagimov from Malta were declared winners of the Malta Junior Open 2026 – with Alex becoming the first Malta player to win this tournament.
Full results can be seen on: http://www.maltagolf.org/tournaments/malta-open#/competition/5327497/results
The other prize on offer was for the best net score from a local player. This was claimed by Grace Lewen Wang who played an aggregate of twenty-five under her course playing handicap. A highlight of the tournament was the hole in one achieved by Austria’s Marie Schweighofer on the 13th hole during the second day.
Parallel to this event, a subsidiary competition for the RMGC’s Junior Academy Eagle players was held. Four boys and two girls started in the tournament, which was played in Stableford format from the same yellow and blue tee markers as the main competition. Flynn O’Neill took the honours playing level to his handicap – well ahead of Pelyun Chai and Krista Formosa who had 87 and 81 points respectively.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I extend our special thanks to Takomo and VisitMalta, our other corporate and individual sponsors and the volunteers without which the accomplishment of the tournament would have been impossible.
Our appreciation is extended to the Royal Malta Golf Club, the Marsa Sports Club, Sport Malta and to all those who helped to make this tournament a wonderful success.
