Long Drive World Series announces bigger and better 2018 schedule

Fan of long drive? The Long Drive World Series has just announced plans to significantly expand its programme of events in 2018

The Long Drive World Series (LDWS) has announced plans to expand its number of tournaments in 2018 as the brand looks to introduce audiences around the world to its high octane golfing entertainment concept.

Long Drive sees the biggest hitters from the world of golf go head-to-head in a bid to hit the ball the furthest distance. In 2017, the series drew crowds in their thousands, as the organisation hosted major events in Dubai, London and Portugal. 

Following the success of this year’s series, LDWS has now announced its intention to visit no less than 10 locations internationally in 2018, with the overall winner being crowned 2018 Long Drive World Series champion.

The 2018 season will kick off in Dubai in February, with further events set to take place in Mexico (March), South Africa (April), USA (May), UK (June), Sweden (July), Russia (August), Portugal (September), China (October) and Turkey (November).

Amongst those players set to feature in next year’s line-up include Swedish long driver Emil Rosberg – the winner of the London leg of the 2017 series – and Serbian Ilija Djurdjevic, Americans Ryan Steenberg, Ryan Reisbeck and Kevin Shook, and British big hitters Joe Miller, James Tait and Scott Beaven.

In total, 16 players will compete at each event in the calendar. Those 16 players will be made up of 12 Long Drive World Series players, one local player from each region and three qualifiers who will have the opportunity to compete for a place in the main event through an open qualifying round.

The 16 players will be ranked at each event, through a quick seeding round prior to the main event starting. Players will then compete in a series of head to head pairings with the remaining two players progressing to the final.

The 2018 Long Drive World Series will also see the introduction of a new scoring system called “Load the Grid”, where players will have six balls to hit within markers on a grid, in a bid to accumulate the longest total yardage.

Players will accumulate points on a league basis throughout the Series and the player with the highest number of points at the end of the 10-leg series will be crowned the overall 2018 Long Drive World Series champion.

Martin Westney, CEO of Long Drive World Series, said: “2017 was a hugely successful debut year for the Long Drive World Series. Our ambition now is to grow the concept significantly in an effort to introduce new audiences to our fast pace, exhilarating form of golf.

“We have more events planned than ever before, at some of the most iconic locations around the world, and we are looking forward to showcasing the world’s best players to our growing fanbase around the globe”.

Sky Sports will broadcast highlights packages from each and every LDWS event in the calendar. 

Find out more here: www.longdriveworldseries.com/