By Chris Lehourites
London - PowerPlay is a golf game fit for a Formula One fan.
Hoping to change the face of a sport often considered to be staid and boring, organizers of the PowerPlay Golf series are looking to bring in new fans by offering a faster pace and more excitement with two pins per green and only nine holes in a round.
“Stand by for something very special,” Scottish golfer Colin Montgomerie said on Wednesday in a statement. “Golf around the world is about to discover a new dimension.”
Montgomerie will be joined by US Open champion Graeme McDowell in a 12-player field that includes former major winners Gary Player, John Daly and Ian Woosnam in a PowerPlay tournament in May at Celtic Manor in Wales.
In PowerPlay golf, players can score different point totals depending on which of the two cups they go for on each green. The game is scored using a nine-hole “variation on golf’s Stableford points scoring system,” PowerPlay Golf said on its Web site.
Each player will get a limited amount of opportunities to putt to the black flag, which would be placed in a more difficult part of the green. If a player makes a birdie into that hole, more points are awarded.
On the final hole, all players can go for the black flag, where organizers said a “birdie wins points galore, and possibly the tournament … but failure to make par spells disaster.”
Player, a nine-time major winner, described the game’s appeal by thinking back to his days at the Masters, a tournament he won three times.
“You are standing in the middle of the 18th fairway at Augusta National tied for the lead. What do you do?” Player said. “Risk versus reward — one of the toughest decisions a champion has to make.”
The event at Celtic Manor on May 30 is the inaugural tournament in a three-event series, and the list of participants is likely to draw fans of the traditional game.
The field also includes Paul Casey, Ian Poulter, Paula Creamer and Helen Alfredsson.
The game is meant to “increase golf’s appeal to a wider sporting TV audience,” PowerPlay Golf said. The winner of the first tournament at Celtic Manor will receive 100,000 pounds ($163,000).
PowerPlay Golf has likened itself to Twenty20 cricket. The traditional sport of cricket is played over five days, while a one-day version lasts about eight hours. With the introduction of Twenty20 cricket in 2003, the game was reduced to about four hours.
“Creating a three-hour risk-and-reward shootout live for TV is a great idea,” McDowell said, “and I am sure we will all be going full-on to win.”
Associated Press
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