South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli will be in line to defend his title in Austria next year, albeit in a new event with a huge twist – a shot clock on every shot, the European Tour has announced.
Frittelli’s victory at the Lyoness Open this year was a watershed moment for the 27-year-old, but the Shot Clock Masters in Austria has been confirmed as the replacement for the Lyoness Open in June 2018.
In a bid to combat slow play, the European Tour have expanded on the shot clock that was in action on one hole at Golf Sixes.
In a marked difference to the Golf Sixes model however, this tournament will embrace the Tour’s official timing policy (similar to policies used across the world of professional golf) over 72 holes, with an intent to showcase a European Tour event played at a more compelling pace.
In accordance with this official policy, each player in the 120-man field will have 50 seconds for the first player in a group to play any given shot, 40 seconds for subsequent players. Players will incur a one-shot penalty for each bad time incurred, and these will be shown as a red card against their name on the leaderboard.
Each player will have the right to call two ‘time-outs’ during a round, which will permit them twice the time normally allotted to play the shot.
Last year the European Tour pledged to speed up the game of golf, introducing a new pace of play policy, which included monitoring penalties, and handing referees additional powers to target slow players. This policy had an immediate effect, leading to a visible reduction in round times, and the additional development in Austria could have an even more dramatic impact.
It is hoped the move will cut round times by around 45 minutes, reducing three-ball timings to approximately four hours, and two-balls to around three hours 15 minutes.
‘The 2018 Shot Clock Masters will be a fascinating addition to our schedule next year. Not only will it help us combat slow play and reduce round times, it is also further evidence of our desire to embrace innovation,’ said Keith Pelley, chief executive of the European Tour.
Leading Austrian player Bernd Wiesberger is keen on the idea.
‘With this change, there will be much more attention from the international sports media during the tournament. The new Shot Clock format is an ideal way to focus on the issue of pace of play. The game of golf should definitely be faster and therefore this is a step in the right direction,’ he said.
Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images
