European Tour could stage six-hole events

8:07 AM ET

European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley insists golf must embrace new formats and plans to have six-hole events on the professional circuit as early as next year.

The Canadian, who succeeded George O’Grady last year, has been keen to modernise the game and has already permitted players to wear shorts in pro-ams and introduced measures aimed at tackling slow play.

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,” Pelley told BBC Radio 5Live. “There’s no question that is something we believe in as well.

“You look at some of the new formats that have been created — when you look at adventure golf, or the brand Top Golf, and there’s one 15 minutes from where I live in Virginia Water. It’s really geared towards millennials, so the way that people are participating in the game is completely different.

“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 …

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