European Tour exec wants six-hole events

LONDON: European Tour Chief Executive Keith Pelley plans to introduce six-hole tournaments complete with blaring music in a bid to shake up golf ’s staid image.

Pelley succeeded George O’Grady last year and has already introduced measures aimed at tackling slow play as he tries to capture a younger audience for the sport.

However, Pelley’s announcement that six-hole sprint formats could be included on the European Tour schedule from 2017 is a significant leap.

“Golf and tennis has to be a little more open to letting the youth actually participate,” the Canadian told BBC Radio Five on Sunday.

“There’s no question that something we believe in as well.

“Let’s be honest — and scientific data proves this — attention spans are decreasing as opposed to increasing and it’s completely different when the choice people have to consume content now is so different than it was 35-40 years ago.

“So you have to change, people’s time is so precious that golf — I think every golf course being built needs to be six holes, six holes, six holes — so that people can go at the beginning before they go to work.”

Pelley highlighted the success of Twenty20 cricket in boosting attendances as a reason for change.

“From our perspective, as is the