PGA Tour Policy Board member Randall Stephenson RESIGNS over LIV Golf alliance

According to a report, Randall Stephenson resigned from the PGA Tour’s policy board over concerns over the tour’s proposed partnership with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

The PGA Tour made a shocking reversal in its stance on LIV Golf last month by announcing it would unite itself, the Rebel series and the DP World Tour under one umbrella and submitted the framework for the proposed merger to the US Senate.

However, that framework and the Tour’s deal with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund seemingly led to Stephenson resigning from the policy board.

Stephenson, who retired as Chairman and CEO of AT&T in June 2020, sent a letter announcing his decision to step down, according to The Washington Post.

The Post said it had been given a copy of his letter dated Saturday and said the tour’s framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund “is not one that I can objectively judge or in good conscience support , especially in light of the 2018 US intelligence report on Jamal Khashoggi.”

The PGA Tour made a shocking U-turn last month by announcing a deal with Saudi PIF

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018. US intelligence concluded that the Crown Prince probably authorized the assassination, which the Crown Prince denies.

The PGA Tour confirmed the resignation in a memo to its members, citing Stephenson’s “exemplary service” over more than 12 years.

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan stunned every corner of the golfing world — including his own membership — when on June 6 he announced a partnership with the PIF, which had paid for rival league LIV Golf and was part of antitrust lawsuits.

The deal, which still requires the approval of the PGA Tour board and is being reviewed by the Department of Justice, would create a for-profit company in which the PIF, the PGA Tour and the European Tour would pool their commercial activities and media rights.

Monahan would be the CEO and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, would be the chairman of the new company. Al-Rumayyan would also have a seat on the PGA Tour board, although the PGA had given assurances in the tentative deal that it would always have a majority vote.

Stephenson said he planned to resign on June 12, but then Monahan stepped out with a medical problem. Monahan announced on Friday that he would return to work on July 17.

“I joined this board 12 years ago to serve the best players in the world and to expand the virtues of sportsmanship instilled through the game of golf,” Stephenson said in his letter. “I hope that as this board moves forward, it will thoroughly rethink its governance model and keep its options open to evaluate alternative sources of capital beyond the current framework agreement.”

The 10-member PGA Tour Board consists of five players and five independent directors. Two of them are CEO Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, who spent seven weeks negotiating the Al-Rumayyan deal with Monahan.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the PIF governor, would become chairman of the new company

The others are investment manager Mark Flaherty, a board member of Goldman Sachs, and Mary Meeker, a venture capitalist.

The resignation comes three days before Dunne and Ron Price, the tour’s COO, are due to testify before a Congressional subcommittee seeking more details about the partnership between the PGA Tour and the Saudi wealth fund.

Under the tour’s bylaws, the four independent directors must choose who replaces Stephenson after consultation with the five players on the board and John Lindert, the non-voting board member of PGA of America.

There is no time frame to fill the spot.