Sky Sports Secures New Golf Tournaments And Talent

Sky Sports has signed three new deals for golf, adding an all-new tournament, new tour events and a new reporter to its comprehensive line-up.

The first Severiano Ballesteros Trophy, the next two Solheim Cup tournaments and regular Ladies European Tour events will now be broadcast on Sky Sports whilst former Ryder Cup star Howard Clark has been secured for the Sky Sports golf team.

SEVERIANO BALLESTEROS TROPHY

The inaugural Severiano Ballesteros Trophy, played from Friday 14th to Sunday 16th April 2000, will be exclusively live on Sky Sports. The Ryder Cup style tournament will be staged at Sunningdale and feature twenty of Europe's leading golfers.

Sky Sports has committed to broadcast nearly 30 hours of live coverage from across all three days of the tournament. Daily live coverage will start at 8am - before the first tee shot - and continue until beyond the final putt - 6pm on Friday, 6.30pm on Saturday and 4pm on Sunday.

Each ten-strong team will be lead by a Ryder Cup star - Continental Europe by Severiano Ballesteros and Great Britain by Colin Montgomerie - and feature the seven leading players on the 1999 Volvo European Tour Order of Merit plus two 'wild-cards' under the age of 25.

Eight of Europe's 1999 Ryder Cup team will play in the tournament; Colin Montgomerie, Paul Lawrie, Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood for Britain and Miguel Angel Jimenez, Jean Van de Velde, Sergio Garcia and Jarmo Sandelin for Continental Europe.

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR & SOLHEIM CUP

A new long-term deal with the Ladies European Tour will ensure that Sky Sports viewers can see the Solheim Cup - the premier women's tournament - live plus regular events on the Ladies European Tour. Sky Sports will broadcast live coverage of all three days in the next two Solheim Cup tournaments - the 2000 tournament at the Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland and the 2002 event at the Interlaken Golf Club, USA - and weekly highlights from the Ladies European Tour for the next three seasons.

HOWARD CLARK

The former Tour professional and Ryder Cup star has joined Sky Sports full-time as an on-course reporter. An experienced broadcaster, who has recently worked for the BBC and Sky Sports, Howard will work on US PGA Tour and European Tour events, the Majors and the Ryder Cup. As a player he represented Europe in six Ryder Cup tournaments, winning three events and retaining the cup in a tie in 1989, played in the Dunhill Cup seven times and the World Cup five times and won eleven events in his two decades on the European Tour.

Announcing the new deals, Vic Wakeling, Manging Director of Sky Sports, said: "This will be our busiest ever year for golf. Over the next twelve months we will take our subscribers to two of the Majors, the Alfred Dunhill Cup, the Solheim Cup, the Presidents Cup and over 100 Tour events. Then, of course, we have the Ryder Cup at the Belfry to look forward to next year.

"We want to give our viewers the best golf line-up and the best golf coverage; we are delighted to add Ladies European golf to the line-up and welcome Howard to the team. Howard is one of Europe's finest Ryder Cup players; only Faldo, Woosnam and Langer have been in more winning European teams. He was a winner three times, a success in I989 when we retained the trophy, and a success on the European Tour. We are delighted to add his experience and unique knowledge to our award-winning commentary team."