Edinburgh Castle to stage TV golf shoot-out during Scottish Open

Edinburgh Castle is to be the venue for a glitzy golf event during the week of the Aberdeen Standard Investments Scottish Open at Gullane.

The Hero Challenge, a shoot-out involving some of the game’s top players, will take place in the heart of the Capital on Tuesday, 10 July.

The one-hour event will be live on Sky Sports and also be beamed around the world across the European Tour’s media platforms.

“Edinburgh Castle is arguably Scotland’s most recognisable landmark, and we are thrilled to bring the Hero Challenge to such an iconic location,” said Keith Pelley, European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley.

“Since we launched the Hero Challenge at the British Masters in 2016, it has proved to be hugely popular with players and spectators alike.”

The event at Edinburgh Castle – to be played on a specially-built tee and green – will be the first in a series of iconic city locations planned for this year.

“We have had a lot of fun growing and developing the format at some spectacular golf courses, and we believe that bringing this innovative contest to internationally recognisable landmarks is the perfect way to make it even bigger and better, while showcasing our world-famous stars,” added Pelley.

The Hero Challenge involves a series of sudden-death shoot-outs between eight players.

It comprises of seven quick-fire head-to-head straight knockout matches and the entire contest is concluded in less than an hour.

Masters champion Patrick Reed won last year’s Hero Challenge during the Scottish Open at Dundonald Links and the line up for next month’s event will be announced in the coming weeks.

“The Hero Challenge wouldn’t be possible without the vision and support of Pawan Munjal and Hero MotoCorp,” continued Pelley.

“We would also like to thank Historic Environment Scotland, the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo and EventScotland for giving us the opportunity to stage the event at Edinburgh Castle for what will be a truly memorable evening on Tuesday July 10.”

The first Hero Challenge was held during the 2016 British Masters and now takes place during that event, the Scottish Open and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai.

“The overwhelming success of this unique concept of golf in our debut season and last year has encouraged us to bring the 2018 edition of the Hero Challenge to the European Tour once again,” said Pawan Munjal, chairman, managing director and CEO of Hero MotoCorp.

“I am glad to see the Hero Challenge playing a role in attracting a large number of new fans to golf and I am sure this will go a long way in further popularising the game among young fans.”

Free tickets are available at http://et.golf/Hero-Challenge