Andy Pazder, the PGA Tour’s chief tournaments and competitions officer, has resigned after having served on the circuit’s executive leadership team since 1990.
The Golf Channel, Golfweek, ESPN and Sports Illustrated said that the tour had informed players in a memo about Pazder’s departure, with no reason given for his resignation.
Pazder was a key figure in the PGA Tour’s controversial merger deal with the Saudi backers of the LIV Golf League, the framework agreement with the Saudi Public Investment Fund revealed in June.
Last month, Pazder was appointed to the Player Benefit Program committee to try and determine compensation for PGA Tour players who did not jump to LIV, whose record $25-million purses and guaranteed money for 54-hole events had lured several top players.
Pazder was also on a task force to decide possible paths back to the PGA Tour for LIV players who might want to return after the merger deal, which must still be ratified by a PGA policy board now including Tiger Woods, who gives players a majority on the panel.
Pazder is the second PGA Tour executive to resign within a month. On 9 July, former AT&T chairman Randall Stephenson resigned his position on the PGA Tour policy board, expressing concerns about the planned agreement with the Saudis.
Tour executive vice president Tyler Dennis, who helped handle PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan’s duties when he took a leave in June and July over medical issues, will assume Pazder’s responsibilities, according to reports.
The move by Pazder, who began working for the tour in 1989, comes two days before the start of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, the three final events of the 2022-23 campaign.
© Agence France-Presse
