Dubai: New European Tour chief executive officer Keith Pelley has hinted that the series could begin experimenting with quicker and shorter formats.

Following abridged versions of both 50-over cricket and 15s rugby to T20 and sevens respectively, golf could be the next sport to take a makeover as it attempts to attract new markets.

“Make no question about it; the 72 hole format, the traditional format, will always be a critical format,” said Pelley on the sidelines of the ongoing DP World Tour Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates. “But the way people are participating in golf nowadays; we talk about slow play, we talk about the speed of the game, we talk about the key critical demographic being that millennial demo that are experiencing the sport through gaming, pitch and putts and through nine holes.

“I played the other day, and I only wanted to go and play six or seven holes. It was tough because I couldn’t get back to the clubhouse. So there are all kinds of different formats that we can do, so stay tuned.

“That is something we are discussing and I don’t have anything to announce on that yet, but it is certainly something we are contemplating. There are great options to experiment on Tuesdays with some formats. I’m really not sure the Pro-Am format is the one that we will continue with long-term. We’ll try some new formats in the real near future,” added the 51-year-old Canadian who replaced George O’Grady as European Tour CEO in August.

Pelley also vowed to address slow play, in order to enhance participation and spectatorship.

“We are going to be the leaders in dealing with slow play,” he added. “I cannot tell you what that means from a concrete perspective right now but I’ve had significant dialogue with the R&A (golf’s ruling authority) and they are in violent agreement that this is something that we need to deal with.

“I can tell you that when we sit here next year, we will have a completely different philosophy on slow play. I believe with the world of technology, with what we can do on our phones, and what we can do on the internet, we can find a way to monitor slow play in a more effective way. This is a problem and it is on our agenda and we are going to take a leading role in dealing with this issue.”

Another issue on his list of priorities since taking charge was stemming the tide of players heading to play on the US PGA Tour in America.

“If you are a young player, and you have done very well in the European Tour, and you want to make the most money, you are going to play in America,” he said.

“We need to provide a viable alternative to the US PGA Tour for our players. We need to be too important to be dismissed. This means we are going to have to increase our prize purses and that means we are going to have to focus on diversity. We play in some unbelievable places and diversity is one of our greatest strengths, but we have to capitalise on that in order to raise prize purses and increase playing opportunities to become a viable option to the PGA Tour.

“That won’t happen over happen overnight. You’ll start to see it come to fruition in 2018. Definitely in three to five years we will have a viable alternative, so that young players don’t necessarily need to go to America to be able to make as much money as they can. There are many ways that we will execute that through television, sponsorship and partnerships that will provide significantly more value.”

Seemingly at odds with that philosophy, however, has been his decision to lower the compulsory amount of tournaments a player needs to play in order to keep their card from 13 to five, excluding the four Majors and four World Golf Championships.

“The main reason was to help some of the players that have been entrenched in the US like Ian Poulter who had to race around [at the end of the year] to make sure he got his 13 events.

“This, I believe, will allow our players to schedule more efficiently, so they know exactly how they are going to maintain their membership. Once you get to the point where there are opportunities for the players to play that are incredibly viable, incredibly exciting, in unbelievable cities, then [playing at least] five [events] should not be a problem. We want them to play more. But we’ll want them to play more because they want to play more not because they have to play more.”