The name of the game is change. Even a sport as staid and traditional as golf, which dates back 250 years, needs to change to stay relevant. Initiatives ranging from “Growing the Game” to academies, coaching schemes and age-group events, did their job. But nothing has worked as well as changing and tweaking formats to enthuse the new generation and wean them away from their phones, I-pads, laptops and the TV.

Even as the other Tours recognised the need for something ‘new’ and ‘different’, it was Keith Pelley, CEO of the European Tour, with more than a little help from one of India’s top businessmen, Pawan Munjal, Chairman, CEO and Managing Director of the Hero MotoCorp, a good friend of Tiger Woods, who effected a serious change in thinking. The introduction of the path-breaking Hero Challenge at the British Masters in October, 2016, was what set the ball rolling. Soon, the European Tour also had the Golfsixes; Shot-Clock Masters; the ISPS Handa World Super 6 Perth; and the Jordan Mixed Masters this year. Meanwhile, the PGA Tour had the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with two-man teams playing foursome and fourball formats over four days.

Attracting youngsters

The venue for the latest edition of the Hero Challenge is the stunning Princess Dock in Liverpool and the event will be held late in the evening. “Golf as a sport needed to attract more youngsters,” Munjal had said at the start, and Hero is doing its bit with as many 5,000 to 6,000 youngsters turning up at each Hero Challenge in the past two years.

The Hero Challenge sees a group of six players, divided into two groups with the top two from each advancing into the semi-finals and then the final. The format is trying to hit a golf ball to a customised green at one an iconic venue like the Princess Dock in Liverpool. Past venues have included Edinburgh Castle in Scotland, Canary Wharf in London and the Nassimi Beach in Dubai.

The new format, GolfSixes, featuring a prize fund of €1 million made its debut on the European Tour in May, 2017. It had two-man teams from 16 nations, represented by its two leading ranked and available European Tour members. The teams were split into four groups of four before the top two teams from each group moved to the knockout stages — the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, a 3rd/4th place play-off match followed by a final. These were six-hole matches with three points for a win and one for a draw.

Shot-Clock Masters arrived in 2018 with 50-second and 40-second time limits for the shots; and in 2017 the European Tour, Asian and Australian Tour combined at the Handa Super 6 which had a mix of strokeplay for three days and 54 holes followed by knock out matches of six holes each on Sunday. The Zurich Classic of New Orleans after almost eight decades of being a traditional 72-hole stroke play event, became an event with two-man teams. It has 80 pro teams of two players each with the top player choosing his partner.

This year, a new addition to the list of ‘innovative’ events was the Jordan Mixed Masters, where European legends (Senior Tour), women (Ladies European Tour) and European Challenge Tour stars played together at the Ayla Golf Club in Jordan.

The field of 123 players had 40 from each Tour and one leading amateur from the men’s, ladies’ and over-50’s games compete against each other in a single, mixed field.

Remember what they said about pyjama cricket — cricket under the lights and in doses of 20 and 10 overs for each side. Now, look at what the Indian Premier League has done to cricket and cricketers. Golf may soon have its new calling in one of these new formats.

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