Golf
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 joined forces with esports firm DreamHack Sports Games to create the first ever European eTour.
The inaugural European eTour will consist of six events, each taking place alongside European Tour events throughout 2020 and players will compete through mobile golf game World Golf Tour by Topgolf.
The European eTour begins in January at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship presented by EGA, and will culminate at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai from November 19th-22nd 2020.
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.
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Swedish golfing major winners Henrik Stenson and Annika Sorenstam will host a brand new, innovative mixed gender event, as part of the 2020 European Tour schedule.
The Scandanavian Mixed will take place in June 2020 in Sweden, with 78 male and 78 female golfers competing at the same event for the same $1.5m prize purse.
Stenson will compete in the event over the next three years, while the European Tour says that Sorenstam, who retired from playing in 2008, will play in the event’s pro-am which takes place before the start of the tournament proper.
The PGA Tour is to stream every shot from every golfer at The Players’ Championship, taking place at TPC Sawgrass in March 2020.
For the first time, the Tour, in partnership with NBC Sports, has committed to covering every shot hit by the entire starting field of 144 golfers over the course of the four-day tournament - over 32,000 shots, according to the Tour.
Each group will have its own stream, while 120 cameras positioned around the Florida course will be needed to capture the action.
Fresh from the season’s showpiece event - the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth - and as the Race to Dubai hots up, the European Tour has refreshed its brand image to catch up with the tour’s growing reputation for innovation.
Experimenting with new, and potentially more engaging, formats of the game while simultaneously creating popular social media content has seen the Tour grow its reputation in recent years, and the launch of a new brand identity alongside a tech innovation drive has reinforced that growing image as an organisation embracing progress.
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