Centurion Club to host new European Tour GolfSixes event
Yesterday the European Tour unveiled GolfSixes, a six-hole team event that aims to "modernise" and "broaden the appeal" of golf.
The inaugural €1 million GolfSixes tournament will make its debut at the Centurion Club in Hertfordshire on May 6-7, 2017.
Two-man teams from 16 different nations will compete wearing microphones and they'll be encouraged to interact with fans in an amphitheatre-style environment that will include music and fireworks.
European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley said the Tour was keen to "emulate" the Ryder Cup atmosphere and hopes the new event will "appeal to the millennial demographic".
On day one, the teams will be split into four groups of four teams and 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. In a similar vein to football’s group stages, three points will be given for winning a match with one point awarded for a draw.
The top two teams from each group will progress to the knockout stages on day two when the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final (plus third place play-off) will be contested. One point will be awarded for each hole won – just like scoring a goal – with the winner being the team with the most points after six holes. Any match that is still tied after six holes will be continued by a repeated play-off over a shortened play-off hole until a result is determined – the golden goal.
