The British Masters supported by Sky Sports once again pushed the boundaries of innovations with European Tour CEO Keith Pelley applauding the range of new concepts seen this week at The Grove.
From the Hero Challenge on Tuesday night under the floodlights, to the ISPS Handa Pressure Putt Challenge, the Hero Masterclasses live each night and Sky Sports’ Walk and Talk interviews during play, the British Masters showcased a number of new initiatives designed to attract a new audience to the sport.
“It’s a real honour to be back with the British Masters and with Sky involved and what you have done is nothing short of spectacular with your innovation,” said Pelley during an interview with Sarah Stirk at the interactive Sky Cart.
Talking about the Hero Challenge, he commented: “That is one of the things we are trying. Everything we try from innovation, everything from an experimental perspective, we will get better. But it was an excellent first start.”
And on all the new concepts, he said: “The new initiatives are imperative and if you stand still you are going to fall behind. We know there will always be the 72 hole tournament as that is part of the history and tradition and we don’t want to disturb that but at the same time we want to add some flair, we want to add more entertainment to the sport. These guys are incredibly skilled and we want to showcase that as much as possible and we want to showcase it to a younger audience so we will do more events like the Hero Challenge and more events under the lights.”
Among the other innovations rolled out this week were the walk and talk’s from inside the ropes as Sky Sports’ Tim Barter gained a real insight from the players mid round as they made their way up the holes.
Lee Westwood, Richard Bland and Tommy Fleetwood all gave a unique insight during the final round.
