Hero Motocorp extends Hero challenge three years to multiple events on The European Tour

The night-golf event made its debut at last year’s British Masters supported by Sky Sports, when the stars of the European Tour battled it out on a sudden-death shoot-out hole under floodlights and in front of 3,000 fans.

Frenchman Alex Levy overcame Sweden’s Alex Noren in the final of what was the first in a series of new and innovative formats introduced by the European Tour in the past 12 months and, following on from that initial success, the format is now set to expand.

The Hero Challenge will mark its return this year with three editions, firstly at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open at Dundonald before returning to the British Masters supported by Sky Sports at Close House and then finishing at the DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai.

Pawan Munjal, Chairman, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Hero MotoCorp, and one of India’s most foremost corporate leaders, attended the European Tour’s annual dinner during Masters week in Augusta National a fortnight ago to address the world’s media about the plans, ahead of today’s official announcement.

Munjal said: “We all recognize that Golf needs a lot more of innovation to attract a younger and newer generation of fans and the Hero Challenge is an initiative in that direction. As a partner of the European Tour, we introduced the ‘Hero Challenge’ at the British Masters last year, which proved to be an immense success. That success has encouraged us to extend and expand our partnership with the European Tour by another three years to multiple events. While we continue our association with the British Masters supported by Sky Sports, we have also decided to add the Hero Challenge at the Aberdeen Asset Management Scottish Open and the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai. We have been fortunate to get the support of all the top professionals, and some icons from other fields as well, who also understand the need to popularize the sport.”

Keith Pelley, Chief Executive Officer of the European Tour, said: “We are delighted that Hero MotoCorp, through the vision and commitment of Pawan Munjal, have shown such incredible support not only for the European Tour, but for our desire to bring the game of golf to new audiences through innovation."