GolfSixes: Pyro, Music, Ampitheaters Coming To Euro Tour Event

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The event is not until May and we have this week's event in Perth featuring a six-hole match element , so I'm not sure why the European Tour chose today to announce the GolfSixes concept.

Nonetheless, here goes...

Innovative GolfSixes concept unveiled by the European Tour

The European Tour is today delighted to unveil GolfSixes, a revolutionary and novel short form of the game which further illustrates the Tour’s desire to embrace innovation and originality in professional golf.

The inaugural GolfSixes event – featuring a prize fund of €1 million – will make its debut on the European Tour schedule at the Centurion Club in St Albans, to the north west of London, on May 6-7, 2017.

The event will feature two-man teams from 16 different nations, each nation being represented by its leading ranked and available European Tour member from the 2017 Exemption Category List as at Monday March 13, who will be joined by a compatriot of his choosing from within European Tour Membership.

The first day’s play on Saturday May 6 will see the teams split into four groups of four – similar to the UEFA Champions League football group stages – before the top two teams from each group progress to the knockout stages – the quarter-finals, the semi-finals, a 3rd/4th place play-off match and the final – all of which will be contested on Sunday May 7.

In the group stages, three points will be given for winning a match with one point given for a draw while the matches themselves will be played in a greensomes match play format.* Both days’ play will be shown live on Sky Sports in the UK and around the globe on the Tour’s world feed network.

As well as innovation inside the ropes, there will be an abundance of originality for the fans to enjoy outside the ropes as the six holes wend their way around the centrally located fan zone at the Hertfordshire venue.

In addition to amphitheatre-style stands around the tees and greens, there will be music and pyrotechnics on the first tee and at various points around the course, with all players miked up to help bring fans closer to the action.

Pyrotechnics. Cue the flames!

Players will also be encouraged to interact with the fans during play and in the intervals between their matches, including taking part in Q&A sessions in the fan zone, while live streaming on social media will further enhance the spectators’ experience and maximise reach.

Well, now they are just flat out dreaming.

The interactive digital fan experience will feature polls, user generated content and unique social media content while the innovative broadcast items will include POV cameras, caddie cams, unique camera angles and on-course player interviews.

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive of the European Tour, said: “We have said for some time that golf needs to modernise and introducing innovative new formats is a major part of achieving that aim, which is why I am delighted to announce the launch of GolfSixes today.

“We want to broaden the appeal of our sport to the millennial demographic and I think this format will do that, not only through the quick and exciting style of play, but also with the interactive digital experience fans will enjoy on site and the innovative television coverage people will enjoy at home.

It's for the only people who matter!

“We are also delighted to have brought a country versus country element to the fore. There is no question that the greatest atmosphere in golf comes every two years at The Ryder Cup and we are keen to try and emulate that national fervour in this format. We are in the entertainment content business with golf as our platform and GolfSixes is the perfect illustration of that.

I believe that's a two-shot penalty for excessive jargon in one sentence.

“I encourage everyone, whether they are a golf fan or not, to come along to the Centurion Club in May and immerse yourself in an occasion which will be unlike anything else you have experienced on a golf course before.”

Can't disagree and it should be a fascinating study in how to liven up the traditional 72-hole format.

I think many will wonder about the potential for the format to confuse, but I've always felt that this dynamic is overstated.

But, for those wondering...

* Format Summary

Greensomes:
• Both players in each team hit tee shots on each hole. The best tee shot is selected and then the team alternate play of all subsequent shots required to complete the hole.

Group Stages:
• Matches will be played over all 6 holes with 1 point awarded for each hole won. The winner of each match will be the player with most points at the end of 6 holes.
• For the group table: Win = 3 points, Draw = 1 point, Loss = 0 points
• In the case of a tie or ties in the group table after all matches have been played, each team’s total points differential from the 3 matches (similar to goal difference) will be used to determine the qualifiers to the knockout stages.
• If this does not resolve the tie, then this will be decided by a hole-by-hole play-off on a shortened play-off hole on hole 18.

Knockout Stages:
• Matches will be played over as many holes as is required to determine a winner.
• Any match that is still tied after 6 holes will be continued by repeated play of a “shortened play-off hole” on hole 18 until a result is determined.

Pebble Beach's 14th Well Received, But Is This Progress?

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After reading Alex Miceli's Morning Read take on the early reviews of Pebble Beach's revamped 14th green, I'm glad to hear that the hole is no longer controversial.

However, Miceli's image and description of a restoration focused on Douglas Grant and Jack Neville's 1919 green instead of the once-brilliant Chandler Egan green created 9 years later and lasting until recently, suggests a serious setback for efforts to preserve Egan's brilliant pre-1929 U.S. Amateur renovation.

Yes, the Egan green had become too severe for today's speeds, but the front hole location has been usable in my lifetime and it was fun when Stimp speeds were in the 8's and 9's. The remarkably cool Egan tier should also have been preserved in some way for historical accuracy and better variety of hole location looks. 

The renovation, which began after last year’s Tour event, used early 20th-century photographs of the Jack Neville-Douglas Grant design to help capture the historic contour of the greens. Architects took advantage of modern technology to improve playability of the hole. Among the changes: the green meets USGA specifications, a SubAir moisture-management system was installed and bunkers were renovated.

“It's a sensible green change,” Padraig Harrington said. “Be interesting to see how it would play in U.S. Open conditions when it's Stimping at 12 or more. I had a putt on the right side of 5 feet above the hole, and I wasn't trying to diddle it. I was trying to hit it. The greens are slow enough today, so it was very playable today. I was surprised how flat that area of the green is. I thought yesterday there was a bit more break in it, but today I was looking at it and it probably would be able to hold a pin at a U.S. Open.”

Miceli notes that the early scoring average was well below par and the 14th was playing as the second easiest.

Bernd! Wiesberger Makes Nine Straight Birdies!

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Bernd Wiesberger became the first player in European Tour history to make nine straight birdies in a round, though his record won't be official because the Maybank Championship was playing preferred lies.

He leads by one through 36 holes. From the European Tour's Instagram account, scorecard and highlights.


Nine. Straight. Birdies!⠀ #MaybankChampionship

A video posted by European Tour (@europeantour) on

Ryder Cup Points: Fall Tour Events Still Don't Count

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I have to be fully caffeinated to read about Ryder Cup points distribution in a non-Ryder Cup year, but it seems the task force Task Force "Task Force" committee is still making very clear that they do not think a darned thing about the PGA Tour's wraparound schedule.

For the 2018 Ryder Cup, the committee still will not award points to at least five events (schedule permitting) on the 2017-18 PGA Tour schedule. The omitted events share one thing in common: they are all played in the fall of 2017.

The new points breakdown shaped by Furyk and friends:

2017 Major Championships
o   1 Point per $1,000 earned
§  The Masters; U.S. Open; Open Championship; PGA Championship
 
Ø  2017 WGC Events and The Players Championship
o   1 Point per $2,000 earned
§  WGC-Mexico Championship; WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship; The Players Championship; WGC-Bridgestone Invitational; WGC-HSBC Champions
 
Ø  2018 Regular PGA Tour events
o   1 point per $1,000 earned
§  Beginning January 1, 2018, through the PGA Championship, August 12, 2018; includes the Zurich Classic of New Orleans team event and WGC events

§  2018 Opposite Field PGA TOUR events will NOT receive points

Given that the PGA Tour and PGA of America have a partnership, the fall's inability to be treated with respect remains a blow to the wraparound concept.

As for the elimination of a post-Tour Championship Captain's pick, Furyk made perfect sense, reports Ryan Lavner.

“It’s obvious that we can’t wait until after the Tour Championship to make a pick,” Furyk said. “We have passports, travel to Europe, and I feel like the timing, we probably want to get it done a little earlier and not put those guys through that at the Tour Championship again.

“I think it’s wise, as well, for the captains to be discussing pairings the night before we leave, rather than who our next captain’s pick is going to be.”

Rio Olympic Golf Course Off Of Life Support For Now

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Given the shocking state of venues where just months ago the Olympics took place, it was great to read from Peter Dawson (via Rex Hoggard's GolfChannel.com story) that the Rio Olympic golf course has some new funding. Employees are getting paid again and maintenance is ongoing.

“Things are looking a little better, there’s a group of people who have come together that have a relationship with the land owner there, and they’ve re-engaged enough of the greens staff to keep the maintenance going,” said Peter Dawson, the former chief executive of the R&A and current

Hopefully this gets the course back into consideration for international amateur or professional events. Things look less promising for the swimming venue: