Longtime PGA Tour board member resigns due to proposed Saudi Arabia partnership

A longtime member of the PGA Tour policy board has resigned following the framework agreement between the Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to create a new global golf entity.

Former AT&T executive Randall Stephenson has left his position as an independent director due to “serious concerns” over the proposed deal, which still needs to be passed by the Tour’s 10-member board. Stephenson joined the board in 2012 but said the framework agreement “is not one that I can objectively evaluate or, in good conscience support, particularly in light of the U.S. intelligence report concerning Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.”

“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 wrote in a letter to fellow board members obtained by the Washington Post. “I hope, as this board moves forward, it will comprehensively rethink its governance model and keep its options open to evaluate alternative sources of capital beyond the current framework agreement.”

PGA Tour members were notified of the resignation on Sunday night by the PGA Tour’s acting leadership of Tyler Dennis and Ron Price, who are filling in for PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan while he deals with an undisclosed health issue.

Stephenson also said he planned to resign within a week of the deal being announced but stayed on after the news that Monahan was stepping away. Golfweek was first to report on Friday that Monahan would be returning to his post, and the Tour confirmed the commissioner would be back July 17.

PGA Tour bylaws state the four remaining independent directors on the board are to select Stephenson’s replacement, defined as “a public figure with a demonstrated interest in golf” after consulting with the five player directors. There is no specific time frame for appointment.

On Tuesday the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, chaired by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), will hold a hearing due to concerns raised by “the Saudi government’s role in influencing this effort and the risks posed by a foreign government entity assuming control over a cherished American institution.”

“Our goal is to uncover the facts about what went into the PGA Tour’s deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund and what the Saudi takeover means for the future of this cherished American institution and our national interest,” Blumenthal wrote in a letter which invited PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, LIV Golf League CEO and commissioner Greg Norman and PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan to testify. “Americans deserve to know what the structure and governance of this new entity will be. Major actors in the deal are best positioned to provide this information, and they owe Congress — and the American people — answers in a public setting.”

Jimmy Dunne, a member of the Tour’s policy board member who helped construct the deal, and Ron Price, the Tour’s chief operating officer, will be present.

Both Tours and the PIF announced the framework of a new global golf entity last month on June 6 after the deal was signed on May 30. The U.S. Department of Justice is also investigating the proposed deal.

As part of the framework for the new entity, both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf dropped all pending lawsuits, but the New York Times has motioned for all documents in both LIV’s claim and the Tour’s counterclaim to be unsealed due to the public’s First Amendment and common law rights to public records.