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Golf is getting the Indian Premier League treatment with a new short-format golf event.

The up-and-coming golf event is said to be modelled after cricket’s IPL, set to debut in Australia next year with 10 city-based teams.

That will include the Bangkok Blades, Dubai Kings, and New York Tigers all playing over nine holes with four-player teams that include a marquee captain in what has been called The Ultra Golf Championship, per EWN.

Designed to turbocharge the sport, the UGC will have a unique scoring system that will reward risk-taking, with 10 points given for a hole-in-one, eight for an albatross, six for an eagle, four for a birdie, and two for a par.

Four feature hole opportunities can also be used, including a longest drive, power-play, alternate-shot and best-ball, where more points can be accumulated.

Teams are set to play seven rounds and a final series over four days.

So far, the world number two, US’s Scottie Scheffler and world number three, Australia’s Cameron Smith are in the round-up, with negotiations with five or six other key players from around the world also in the works.

Other teams locked in will also represent Delhi, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Shanghai, Seoul, and Tokyo, besides Bangkok, Dubai, and New York.

Deke Smith is the brainchild of this new golf event, with the Australian PGA serving as a promoting partner and sanctioning body:

“For more than five years, we’ve been working on the UGC as a short-formed, strategic and tactical golf tournament,” Smith said in a statement released through the Australian PGA.

“We are appealing to a wider fan base, giving people a new way to consume their golf, sport and entertainment, and we think that it’s a great way to grow the game of golf. We see this concept appealing to a younger audience because we will see a result in two hours of golf. We see parochial sports fans getting behind their own city team.”

PGA Tour of Australia tournaments director Nick Dastey said that “once this world-first format has some of the best players in the world showcasing it on TV next year, Ultra Golf Championship will become a part of all golf fans’ life”.

He’s the one who said the event has been modelled off the IPL, adding that some really high net-worth individuals are backing the exciting idea.

The Ultra Golf Championship will debut at a yet-to-be-announced course next December with Smith planning to turn it into a global series soon after.

[source:ewn]