Scotland's Richie Ramsay believes the European Tour should be more "forward-thinking" and consider adding floodlit golf and mixed team events to its schedule.

Ramsay is among the 64-man field contesting the inaugural Saltire Energy Paul Lawrie Matchplay in his native Aberdeen, one of just three events in the 47-tournament schedule which is not a standard strokeplay competition.

And while the 32-year-old admits 72-hole strokeplay events should remain the Tour's "bread and butter", the former US Amateur champion believes incoming chief executive Keith Pelley will be open to change.

Ramsay said: "If you look around the world and you look at places who are a little bit more forward thinking ... I'm just thinking of sports off the top of my head. I'm thinking of F1. Putting on a night race, suddenly people want to watch that. And then you've got a day/night race.

"We've got courses now in Turkey which are floodlit. We played a course in China this year (in the Shenzhen International) that was floodlit, so you're looking at it from your (hotel) balcony and you can go out there and play golf.

"Whether it be matchplay events, or putting players from the PGA Tour, European Tour and Ladies Tour all together, having a team, I don't know.

"But I think the people we have coming in will be very open to that and I think they have a distinct record of being successful in the business that they have been in and they will look to develop those opportunities.

"We have a lot of fantastic tournaments on the European Tour and if we can add to that and develop maybe different formats and still have that Race to Dubai, which is sort of a pivotal thing with the Final Series, we will have a stronger, more diversified tour and something that people will buy into more because at the end of the day, you're competing against other tours.

"You've got to be proactive and you've got to set out your stall and say, this is what we're going to do. There's different ways to being the best and you've got to look at them."

Ramsay holds the course record at Murcar Links having carded a 62 in the Scottish Challenge in 2006, a month before winning the US Amateur title at Hazeltine in Minnesota, the venue for next year's Ryder Cup.

"I saw a picture from back then this morning and I definitely looked a bit lighter than I am now," said Ramsay, who faces India's Shiv Kapur in the first round today. "Too many desserts in the players lounge.

"It was sort of a Phil Mickelson week where I shot 77, 63, 74, 62. I'm the kind of person that I play well most of the time and when I get my short game going I'm capable of shooting a low number, especially on a golf course like this where you've got to stay out of the rough."

Ramsay won his third European Tour title in Morocco earlier this season and faces a tough task to claim a fourth despite having home advantage, with six straight wins required in four days to claim the first prize of £120,000.

The first two rounds take place today and tomorrow, the third round and quarter-finals on Saturday and the semi-finals and final on Sunday.