Standing on a specially constructed tee and under floodlights, Alexander Levy played his shot to the 156-yard par-3 hole to the backdrop of oohs from the crowd and with pyrotechnics going off around him.It was golf, but not as we know it.This was the Hero Challenge: an eight-man, one-hole knockout event played as a precursor to the British Masters tournament.It was the latest innovative event conceived by European Tour chief executive Keith Pelley, who wants to bring more entertainment to a sport that is seeing playing numbers dwindle.About 2,200 spectators watched eight European Tour professionals contest the shootout under lights on Tuesday night. Levy, of France, beat Alex Noren in the final, collecting a first prize of 10,000 pounds ($12,200) that will go to a charity.Lee Westwood, who is playing in the British Masters starting at The Grove on Thursday, said he would be in favor of expanding the exhibition to a full event.Definitely, Westwood said. Normally people are off work at night, so thats one good reason to have it. Ive played night golf. Ive played with the glow-in-the-dark golf balls. Its great fun. You can see it a lot easier.Its something that golf needs to do, Westwood added. It needs to jazz itself up a little bit. I read stuff on the game and people do get a bit bored with 72-hole tournaments week-in, week-out. We need to find new ways of attracting people to the game.Pelley is trying his best.Last month, the European Tour said a new tournament will be played in Perth, Australia, next year that will combine stroke play for three rounds and match play over six holes on the final day.The World Super 6 Perth tournament, to be played at Lake Karrinyup Country Club from Feb. 16-19, will have a 36-hole cut as in regular tournaments before the top 24 players after the third round advance to a match-play component. It includes unique features such as a 90-meter (100-yard) knockout hole if matches are tied after six holes.The tour described it as a revolutionary tournament designed to retain the traditions of the game whilst appealing to a broader market.Cricket has Twenty 20 as its shorter format. Rugby has sevens. Now golf -- a time-consuming sport -- is looking at shorter forms of the game.Westwood understands the need to branch out.You need to challenge the kids that are coming along that are thinking of maybe taking up football or rugby or cricket, the Englishman said, and give them golf as an option.Andy Sullivan, Westwoods Ryder Cup teammate, took part in the Hero Challenge and called it a fantastic way to showcase the characters we have on the European Tour.(It) shows that golf is not an old mans game, Sullivan said Wednesday, and it is actually fun to play golf.Pelley, who is from Canada, has been looking to broaden the appeal of the European game since taking over from George OGrady as the tours CEO last year. Among his other priorities has been speeding up the pace of play, with his aim to shave 15 minutes off an 18-hole round. Takkarist McKinley Youth Jersey . 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Kaleb McGary Womens Jersey .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. BLACKSBURG, Va. -- Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente downplayed any personal satisfaction derived from his teams season-opening performance, but needless to say, he enjoyed most of what he witnessed in his debut as the Hokies head coach.Virginia Tech quarterback Jerod Evans threw for 221 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Hokies to a 36-13 season-opening victory over Liberty on Saturday, handing Fuente his first victory.Fuente, who spent the previous four seasons at Memphis, took over in January for Frank Beamer, who retired after 29 years as Virginia Techs head coach.The atmosphere here is fantastic, Fuente said. Its what college football is all about. People at Virginia Tech take a lot of pride in the game-day atmosphere, and they should. It was incredibleMy thought process coming into the game was how would our kids handle this? How do they respond when things dont go well. There were some times when things were kind of ugly looking, but I liked the way our kids dug in there and plowed away. The atmosphere was fantastic and Im pleased with the way the kids responded to adversity.Fuentes decision last week to name Evans the starting quarterback certainly looked like a good move after Evans completed 20 of 32 passes. He threw touchdown passes on the Hokies last two possessions of the first half to help Virginia Tech rally from a 13-10 deficit.It was a great feeling, Evans said. Its been nine months of hard work. We finally got to showcase what weve been working on for nine long months. We had some mistakes, for sure. I know on my part I had a lot of mistakes that I am going to clean up, but it was exciting.Evans, who won a three-man battle for the job, played less than three quarters. Fuente pulled him after he fumbled on an option pitch -- his second fumble of the game.Some good and some bad would be my first impression, Fuente said of his quarterback. We neeed to take care of the football.dddddddddddd He made some good plays in the passing game. My gut reaction is some good and some bad.Liberty amassed just 160 yards of offense, scoring all of its points off of Virginia Tech turnovers. The Hokies lost four fumbles.They made more plays than we did, but well bounce back, Liberty coach Turner Gill said. We will be a better football team from this ball game.THE TAKEAWAYLIBERTY: Liberty quarterback Stephon Masha got off to a rough start in his attempt to replace Josh Woodrum, a four-year starter. Masha completed 9 of 25 for 70 yards and two interceptions. It was a sloppy debut overall for Liberty, which committed 13 penalties, including eight false-start penalties.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies defense struggled with consistency a year ago, but looked good Saturday. Virginia Tech, which intercepted just 10 passes last season, had three, marking the 41st time under defensive coordinator Bud Foster that the Hokies have intercepted at least three passes in a game. Theyre 38-3 in those games.It was a good starting point for us today, Foster said. I was pleased with how we played. We didnt give up any explosive plays. All in all, I thought we did a nice job in some sudden-change situations and on third down. I think they had 11 turnovers last year, so that (forcing the turnovers) was big.UP NEXTLIBERTY: The Flames will serve as hosts to Jacksonville next Saturday in Libertys home opener. The game will be Libertys first against an opponent from the Pioneer Football League.VIRGINIA TECH: The Hokies now get ready to take on Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway next Saturday night in a game that could set college footballs single-game attendance mark. The two teams havent met in the regular season since 1937. ' ' '