The inaugural Paddy Power Golf Shootout tees off at 12 pm this Friday and it’s set to change the grand old game of golf forever. Now, golf’s been going along fine for a few hundred years or so, but we thought it was time to shake it up and drag the sport kicking and screaming into the 21st century. We’ve all had a lot of time on our hands recently.
But how will it work? Well, let us explain. It’s five pros (Tommy Fleetwood, Andrew ‘Beef’ Johnston, Thomas Bjorn, Carly Booth and Paul McGinley) and five celebrities (Harry Kane, Piers Morgan, Peter Crouch, Freddie Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp) facing a raft of challenges to test their skills to the limit and way, way beyond.
This is how it’s going to go down. The first half is packed with skill-based challenges including blindfolded putting and golf pong, while the second half is the Shootout.
UPDATE: It’s now done and dusted – here’s the best bits from Paddy Power’s Golf Shootout
The Challenges – Tee time 12pm
Golf Pong: If you know beer pong, you know golf pong. Our competitors will battle it out to see who can chip balls into cups. It might look like they’re drunk, but we assure you they aren’t.
Happy Gilmore Longest Drive Challenge: We’ve all tried it down the driving range but now it’s time to see how our superstars get on. Longest drive with that run up and swing wins.
The Hardest Shot In Golf: Think of the worst lie you’ve ever set yourself up with and make it 10 times worse.
Blind Putting: This is all about being connected with the ball, the lie, the green and the hole. It’s about knowing your surroundings at a zen-like level. Good luck, everyone.
Shot At Goal: We put this in to get Harry to come. It’s trying to score, using your club and ball, into football goals on the fairway.
Closest To The Pin: Taking it back to the formative years, our warriors will be using junior clubs to get closest to the pin from the fairway. Sorry Crouchy, but you knew about this when you signed up, mate.
World Record Challenge: We’re trying to set a new global best for slotting home the most putts from 2 meters in 60 seconds.
Fastest Time To Complete A Hole: Let’s hope Jamie’s body doesn’t let him down in this rapid-fire challenge. In teams, our pros will take the tee shot then the celeb has to hurtle down the fairway to wherever the ball lands. They then take the next shot and so on until it’s finally in the hole. Should be a cracker, this.
READ MORE:
- We’ve got some of the best golfers in the world at the course, so we thought we’d have an Official Guinness World Records attempt
- Kane to be full kit w*nker? Crouchie to do the robot? Check out Paddy’s special bets for the Paddy Power Golf Shootout
The Shootout – Tee time of 3.45pm
The Shootout will take a round-robin format leading to a final. Each player has three balls in each match and the aim is to score the most points by getting closest to the pin, with target zones offering up points to help us decide the winner of each match. It’s 3 points for a win, 1 point for a draw and 0 for a loss.
To make things a little more interesting, the celebs and the pros will be aiming at different targets. The Pro Pin is the hardest and is tucked tightly against a bunker while the celebs will target the Paddy Pin in the heart of the green.
https://twitter.com/paddypower/status/1268105320515198976?s=20
There’s three ways to score with 5 points for landing it on the green, 10 points for hitting the largest circle around the pin and 20 for the closest target. Should a celebrity be feeling confident (we’re looking at you Piers) then they can choose to shoot for the Pro Pin and earn double points. Or fail miserably.
Groupings for the Paddy Power Shootout:
Group 1: Morgan, Booth, Flintoff, Beef, McGinley
Group 2: Kane, Fleetwood, Redknapp, Bjorn, Crouch
And, at the end of all this madness, someone will take home the questionable title of Paddy Power Golf Shootout champion of the world.
That’s all you need to know so make sure you check out Paddy Power’s YouTube channel on Friday and keep an eye on those socials to see the best of the action.
