European Tour launches new format

The European Tour has announced a six-hole team event called GolfSixes, as its attempts to broaden the appeal of the sport to a wider audience. The event will see two-man teams from 16 different nations compete for a one million euros prize fund.

Since Tour chief executive Keith Pelley took on the role he has been keen to ‘modernise’ golf and make it more accessible – in the new format players will wear microphones and be encouraged to interact with fans and there will be music played during the event.

Pelley commented: “We have said for some time that golf needs to modernise and introducing innovative new formats is a major part of achieving that. We want to broaden the appeal of our sport to the millennial demographic and I think this format will do that.”

The teams will be split into four groups of four teams on day one, with the top two from each group progressing to the knockout stages. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final will be contested on day two.

Matches will be played in a greensomes, match-play format, with both players in a team hitting tee shots on each hole. After selecting the best tee shot, the players take alternate shots until the hole is completed.

Countries will be represented by their leading ranked and available European Tour member who will choose a team-mate. The event will take place at St Albans’ Centurion Club on 6-7 May.

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A graduate of Cardiff University’s highly respected post-graduate magazine journalism course, Andy has successfully edited four different publications across the B2B, trade and consumer sectors. He is skilled at all aspects of the magazine process in addition to editing websites and managing social media channels.