WASHINGTON | Randall Stephenson has resigned from his post on the North American Golf Tour (PGA Tour) board because he has “serious concerns” about the controversial merger deal with Saudi backers of the dissident LIV Tour, an article confirmed Sunday Washington Post.
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The newspaper said it received a copy of the resignation letter, effective immediately, dated Saturday, from the former AT&T CEO.
The 10-member board must approve the deal announced last month by PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for it to go through.
In his letter, which expresses “serious concerns” that the merger “happened without the oversight of the board of which he has been a member since 2012,” Stephenson says it “is not a deal that I can objectively judge or conscientiously support, especially not.” in light of the US intelligence report on Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.”
The 2018 murder of the Washington Post journalist was blamed on Saudi agents and is among human rights abuses cited by many critics of the Saudi-backed dissident organization, which since its first event 13 months ago has used huge fundraising funds to support the to attract the best players to the PGA Tour.
The surprise unveiling of a merger deal came as a shock to most players, as the PGA Tour banned golfers who defected to LIV from their competitions.
According to The Washington Post, Stephenson wanted to quit last month, but he delayed his decision after Monahan took time off to deal with unspecified medical issues.
The PGA Tour announced Friday that Monahan would resume duties on July 17 after a US lawmakers hearing on the PGA-LIV deal was scheduled for Tuesday, at which two PGA Tour officials are scheduled to testify.