Golf News: - Posted 11th December 1997

New Stats Aid for European Tour

London - The PGA European Tour are to introduce a new statistics service next year to chart players' performances.

Guardian Performance Data will record players' stroke average, cuts made, driving accuracy, driving distance, greens hit in regulation, average putts per round and sand saves.

The data will help mark out specific characteristics of a player's game and allow for comparisons on how individual holes and courses are playing from one day to the next.

Individual performance profiles will also allow the players themselves to use the data to analyse the progress of their own game.

"Whilst your main opponent is always the course, it is still important to know how various aspects of your game are measuring up against other members of the Tour," said Colin Montgomerie, European No 1 for the last five years.

"Profiling our play as well as the various holes and courses in this way will prove to be a positive aid to our tournament preparations and how we approach a particular day's play."

The service will be sponsored by Guardian Insurance for the next three years.