Chris Wood and Andy Sullivan are optimistic the shorter format will work in their favour as they aim to underline why they are GolfSixes top seeds at Centurion Club this weekend.

The England duo are one of the 16 two-man teams from different nations competing in the new six-hole Greensomes European Tour event at the St Albans club.

Similar to the UEFA Champions League, the teams have been drawn in four groups of four – England will face India, Denmark and the Netherlands when the tournament gets underway tomorrow – with the top two from each group advancing to the knockout stages on Sunday.

Wood, who will be partnered by his Ryder Cup teammate, is going into the event with an open mind.

“Anytime the Tour are willing to make some changes and try something different I’m willing to support it,” he said prior to playing in today’s Pro-Am which sees celebrities and sports stars including Vernon Kay, Vinnie Jones, Darren Gough and Mike Tindall also play the GolfSixes course.

“It’s always going to bring a few things. Once we’ve got through it some players might not like it, people watching might not like it, but they’ll be some good stuff as well.”

The reigning BMW PGA champion is hopeful the six-hole format will be a success and continued: “Everything’s so instant these days and golf is probably one of the few things that isn’t. The six-hole format will hopefully appeal to people who haven’t got that much time and think ‘well, that took an hour to play six holes or whatever. I can manage that easy’ and then take it up and have a go at it.”

Asked if they had any concerns about adapting their game from the traditional 72-hole stroke-play format, Wood responded: “I think it will be hard for some. I don’t think that will be a problem for us. Anytime you get to a weekend and you see the tee-times and they’re two balls, you look at the draw and you think ‘we’ll get round so much quicker’, there’s a flow to the game, rather than three balls on Thursday and Friday. It’s stop-start, stop-start all the way round.

“I feel I play a lot better when I’m in to a round and there’s some flow to it, so for me the speed element, hopefully if it comes off, will work in our favour.”

Agreeing that “the format will probably suit us better than some of the other guys”, Sullivan added: “I think other sports have fallen in line with the modern era to try and make things a bit quicker and I think it’s about time golf has finally come into that. Hopefully it will be a success.

“I don’t think we’ll ever lose the 72-hole format, but hopefully we’ll see more of this and bring the fun side out as well and show people that golf isn’t a one man boring sport and we can have a bit of fun out there.”

Scotland’s Richie Ramsay and Marc Warren will face Belgium, Spain and Thailand in Group B, while the Welsh side of Bradley Dredge and Jamie Donaldson are in Group C alongside Australia, Portugal and USA. Group D consists of France, Italy, Sweden and South Africa.

Click here to see the full list of competing players.