LONDON, April 21 (Reuters) - With more and more part-timers finding they have less time for 18-hole golf lasting upwards of four hours, a shorter form of the sport could give the amateur game the shot in the arm it desperately needs.
Hoping perhaps to have the same galvanising effect on golf as the Twenty20 explosion has had on cricket interest, British Open organisers the R&A decided to take a lead this week by launching a new nine-hole event to be played at Royal Troon.
Amateurs will get the chance to try out the Scottish links on July 9, the week before the best golfers in the world turn up at the course to take part in the Open.