Golf

Three more European Tour sponsors have pledged their support to the Tour’s UK Swing series of events, which began with the Betfred British Masters hosted by Lee Westwood at Close House.

Estrella Damm, the Title Sponsor of the Andalucia Masters - which will be the first event to take place in continental Europe following the UK Swing - joins Porsche and Swing Index in supporting the first six events of the revised 2020 schedule. The trio follow Loch Lomond Whiskey, which was announced as title partner for the Swing in June.

The R&A, in association with its partner HSBC, will air a ‘reimagined’ Open Championship featuring some of the best footage from 50 years of the event.

Half a century of archive footage has been pieced together with modern graphics and new commentary to create The Open for the Ages, contested by the likes of Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Seve Ballesteros, and Rory McIlroy at the iconic Old Course in St Andrews.

The 2020 Ryder Cup will be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic, and played at the same venue in 2021 - a move which will see the event played in odd-numbered years from now on.

The PGA of America, Ryder Cup Europe and the PGA TOUR jointly announced that both the Ryder Cup and Presidents Cup have been rescheduled, with the now-2021 edition scheduled for 21th -26th September 22-27 2021, at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin.

The Presidents Cup - a similar competition held between the USA and the Rest of the World - will now be moved to September 2022 to avoid a clash.

The European Tour has agreed a new partnership with Scotch whisky distiller Loch Lomond Whiskies, which will become the first Official Partner of the Tour’s UK Swing.

The partnership will see Loch Lomond’s single malt whiskies become “The Spirit of the Tour” throughout the duration of the UK Swing, which was set up to facilitate golf’s return from the coronavirus lockdown. The phrase builds on an existing partnership between Loch Lomond Whiskies and The R&A, where the distiller’s drinks have been “The Spirit of The Open” since 2018.

The R&A has announced the cancellation of The Open, and has confirmed that the 2021 edition of the tournament will be staged at Royal St George’s.

The course in Sandwich, Kent, was due to host the event this year, but it will instead stage next year’s event, remaining the venue for the 149th Open Championship. 

Scottish course St Andrew’s was due to host the 2021 event, but will instead host the 150th edition of the competition in 2022.

European Tour golf stars have sent messages of support to ‘hero’ medical professionals.

The video, released on the social media channels of some of the world’s leading golfers, features - amongst others - the likes of European Ryder cup stars Rory McIlroy, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood.

The golfers tell their fans that they are not heroes - but rather it is ‘the essential workers we all take for granted’ who are our heroes.

The European Tour has unveiled the three shortlisted start-ups from its inaugural European Tour Innovation Hub with Tata Communications.

The Hub, which was launched in September this year in line with the Tour’s brand refresh, called upon start-ups to develop solutions to problems the Tour faces and help ‘Drive Golf Forward’ - the organisation’s new brand identity.

Sky Sports has landed exclusive coverage of the Masters, golf’s first major of the year, from 2020 onwards.

Since 2011, Sky and the BBC have shared coverage of the tournament, with the free-to-air network broadcasting live play from the final two days at Augusta concurrently with the pay TV carrier. From next year onwards, however, the BBC will show no live golf at all, broadcasting only highlights of the Masters.

As entries open for the Sport Industry Awards 2020, we're going Behind the Awards to take a look back at the winners over the last few years. What made them successful? How do they stand out from the crowd? And what has life been like since they picked up the award?