European Tour golfers to go up against the shot clock in Austria

In its bid to speed up golf, the European Tour will introduce a tournament next year where every shot is against the clock.

Players at the 2018 Shot Clock Masters in Austria will have a limited amount of time to play each shot, the first time this has been tried in professional golf.

According to a European Tour media release, the first player in a group will get 50 seconds to play any given shot while 40 seconds is allocated for subsequent players.

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If they don’t hit their shot within that time, they 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 be able to call two “time-outs” during one 18-hole round. This means they will get twice the allotted time to play the shot, says the European Tour.

Officials hope that the new format will cut rounds by approximately 45 minutes, reducing three-ball timings to four hours and two-balls to three hours 15 minutes.

Keith Pelley, chief executive of the European Tour, said: “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.”

Austrian golfer Bernd Wiesberger added: “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.”

The Shot Clock Masters is the latest innovation introduced by the European Tour after experimenting with the concept at the inaugural GolfSixes event in May.

Golfweek’s Alistair Tait welcomed the move. In fact, he believes the policy should be launched now.

“There is absolutely no need to test a slow-play clock another time,” he said. “I’ve been arguing for one for about 20 years. It’s such a no-brainer I can’t believe it’s taken all this time for one tour to approve it.

“As GolfSixes proved, it works. The only problem with GolfSixes was the clock was only used on one hole. It should have been used on every hole. It should be used for every three-ball, every pairing in every tournament.

“If I was in charge of the European Tour I’d launch the policy now. We’ve spent too much time parked on slow play. The time is right for us to knock it out of the game once and for all. The sooner the better.”

English golfer Lee Westwood told the Daily Mail it was a “brilliant idea and long overdue”, while Andy Sullivan said: “The sooner it’s introduced on tour, the better.”

The 2018 Shot Clock Masters will be held at the Diamond Country Club in Austria from 7-10 June.