British Masters: Luke Donald looks forward to an exciting week at The Grove
By Luke Donald
Last Updated: 10/10/16 1:54pm
After the successful return of the British Masters, supported by Sky Sports, last year, we sat down with this year's tournament host Luke Donald to get his views on the week ahead at The Grove.
The history
I remember going to watch the British Masters at Woburn a few times, and it was great to watch the likes of Bernhard Langer, Ian Woosnam and Nick Faldo back in the day, and Seve [Ballesteros] of course.
Obviously, the field was packed with some of the game's greatest players, and I'm honoured to be hosting a tournament with such a rich history and a world-class list of former champions.
It would be great to play my part in returning the British Masters to its former prestige. There's a big need for more professional tournaments in Britain. They are always so well attended and last year's was obviously a huge success.
The field
With the golf season being so long now, it is more difficult to attract the strongest field possible. But we'll have an excellent turn-out at The Grove, and we'll continue to work hard to get the biggest names involved.
We're a little bit hampered by having the tournament so late in the year, ideally you'd want to have it as close to The Open as possible. But it's also important to string a run of big tournaments together, so to have the Ryder Cup and the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in the two weeks before this year's British Masters is fantastic.
The venue
I'm confident The Grove will be a first-rate venue and every bit as good as Woburn was last Autumn. The Grove proved a popular course with the players when the WGC-Amex Championship came here 10 years ago.
It's a great test of golf and the players will really enjoy it, as well as the top-class facilities here. The hotel is world class and it's the perfect venue for such a big event.
The attendance at Woburn was really encouraging, and I'm certain we'll see the same again this year. Access to The Grove is really easy, the location is ideal, not too far from London, and it's also an area close to my roots. I was born just down the road in Hemel Hempstead and I also lived in nearby High Wycombe for a number of years.
The tournament host
This is my first time as a tournament ambassador and I'm really excited by the challenge. Ian Poulter was the host last season and I've spoken to him about exactly what the role entails. There's obviously a lot of promotion to do, but I'm also keen to put in a good performance.
Luckily, the European Tour are very sensitive to a player's needs and they will make sure my workload doesn't get too heavy so I can enjoy the week and, hopefully, play some good golf and give myself a chance to win.
The innovations
One of the best things about the return of the British Masters in 2015 was the innovations brought in by Sky Sports. They did a great job in coming up with new ways to make golf as cool and interesting as possible.
We've certainly learned from that and we'll look to implement a few of those ideas this week, especially the live Masterclasses, and I'm sure Sky will come up with even more new ideas to further enhance the coverage, make the tournament look more fun and attract a younger audience.
I really enjoyed doing the putting masterclass at Woburn, and I holed one of my best putts of the year on live TV. It must have been around 100 feet and it took a while to get there, and there was a huge noise when the ball dropped in the cup. That was a fun moment.
The highlights
The feedback from the other players was also encouraging throughout the week. The weather was kind to us, the crowds were great, the course was superb and so was the host.
We also saw a wonderful winner in Matt Fitzpatrick, who was the youngest player in the field, and he's continued to play well this season. The whole week was a huge success and I'm looking forward to more of the same at The Grove.
Watch the British Masters throughout the week live on Sky Sports 4 - your home of golf. Live coverage begins with the Hero Challenge on Tuesday from 7.30pm.
