The par 3 16th hole at this week’s British Masters supported by Sky Sports will have a different look to the rest of the course at The Grove after a local primary school were invited to by tournament host Luke Donald to create a unique design for the pin flag.
The hole has been renamed the ‘Sky Sports Game Changers’ hole to celebrate the work that Sky and the European Tour are doing to encourage more people - especially children – to play and enjoy the game of golf. As well as designing the flag the class spent the morning with Luke learning about golf, the tournament as well as seeing the trophy and playing with the former world number one’s clubs.
There were some fantastic designs and it was a very close contest, but the winning flag came from nine-year-old Mahi, who will see her design blowing in the wind on the green this week. Her classmates won’t be left out either, with all 30 entries on show in the tented village.
Tournament host Luke Donald, said, “I’m really enjoying my role as British Masters host and working with Sky and the European Tour to attract new and younger fans to the game. When I first met the class back in May, I asked them to raise their hand if they had previously played golf, only one child did. On Monday when we put the winning flag on the hole I asked the same question and nearly all of them had tried it in one form or another. It’s great to see activities like this work and it is only a small part of all the great work being done this week.”
The activity was filmed by Game Changers, a weekly TV show for ages 7 – 11 which aims to get kids off the sofa and into something active. A golf-themed episode will be filmed from The Grove this week and will be simulcast, along with all four days of the tournament, on Sky Sports Mix.
Sky Sports Mix is a new sports channel available to all Sky subscribers, including those who don’t have the Sky Sports package. By putting live European Tour golf on Mix, Sky will bring the magic of live golf to millions more Sky TV customers, showcasing the amazing action shown on Sky Sports every week. As well as The British Masters, the channel offers customers a taste of other live events including cricket, rugby union and football. These will appear alongside shows like Game Changers and sporting masterclasses that connect Sky Sports to the passion that kids have for learning about and playing sport.
