Golf

DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley to step down from role in April

Canadian Pelley to take up role with Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in his native Toronto

DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley in action alongside Joost Luiten of the Netherlands at the Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek Golf on Thursday. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images
DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley in action alongside Joost Luiten of the Netherlands at the Dubai Invitational at Dubai Creek Golf on Thursday. Photograph: Warren Little/Getty Images
Thu Jan 11 2024 - 14:47

DP World Tour chief executive Keith Pelley is quitting his role after eight and a half years to take up a job in his native Canada.

The 60-year-old’s shock move comes as the DP World Tour remains in negotiations with the PGA Tour to form an alliance with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which bankrolls LIV Golf.

News of Pelley’s departure also emerged just a day after R&A chief executive Martin Slumbers announced he would step down from his role by the end of the year.

Pelley will become president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which owns the NHL’s Toronto Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Toronto Raptors and MLS side Toronto FC.

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Guy Kinnings, the current deputy chief executive and Ryder Cup executive director, will succeed Pelley from April 2nd.

“It has been an incredible honour to be the chief executive of this wonderful institution for the past eight and a half years,” Pelley said.

“When I came over from Canada back in 2015, I set out to create a culture of innovation and to grow our prize funds and our Tour for our members by ensuring that we appealed to new, younger and more diverse audiences.

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“We have done that and so much more because our players, staff, partners, broadcasters and fans have all fundamentally bought into that philosophy that we are in the entertainment industry.

“This role with MLSE, and the chance to be involved with my hometown sports teams in Toronto, was the one opportunity that I simply could not resist.”

Pelley’s time in charge of the DP World Tour is certain to divide opinion after he successfully guided the organisation through the Covid pandemic and then signed a “strategic alliance” with the PGA Tour in November 2020.

That provided a much-needed infusion of cash as the PGA Tour bought a stake in European Tour Productions, but a strengthening of the alliance in June 2022 drew criticism for giving PGA Tour cards to the top 10 players – who were not already exempt – on the 2023 Race to Dubai.

Eddie Pepperell labelled it a “disaster” which made no business sense, while LIV Golf’s Sergio Garcia claimed the DP World Tour was a “feeder tour” set to become the fifth best in the world.

That drew an angry response from Pelley, who was pivotal in bringing Saudi Arabia into the game with the formation of the Saudi International but insisted that a lucrative chance to fully partner with the Saudis was not turned down.

“I know that many people still quote the Malta meeting [in July 2021] and the supposed $1 billion offer that was made to us by Golf Saudi, which is a large part of the reason behind the claim that we missed an opportunity with the Saudis,” Pelley said ahead of the 2022 BMW PGA Championship. “There’s only one word to describe that claim, and that is ‘fictitious’.

“And you can ask any member of our board of directors, and they will unanimously confirm that it was not an offer, it was not a deal, it was merely a marketing presentation put together on behalf of Golf Saudi.

“When it was reviewed by our board of directors on September 7th, 2021 it was dismissed.”