Guys Kinnings – From Monty’s Long-Time Manager To New European Tour CEO

4 months ago by Comments Off on Guys Kinnings – From Monty’s Long-Time Manager To New European Tour CEO

Guy Kinnings has been confirmed as the new CEO of the European Tour, taking over in the role from 2nd April, 2024.

Kinnings is the current deputy CEO and also the European Ryder Cup Director and was announced as the new CEO in a Tour press statement confirming present CEO Pelley will be stepping down from his role.

Pelley, who turned 60 today (January 11th), will leave the European Tour group after eight-and-a-half years in the role to join Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment Ltd (MLSE) in his native Toronto.

Pelley became only the fourth Chief Executive since the European Tour’s formation in 1972 when he joined on August 3, 2015, from his previous position as President of Rogers Media.

Since then, he has overseen a transformative period of significant evolution, innovation and growth across the European Tour group.

He will return to his beloved Toronto to become the fifth President & CEO in the 25-year history of MLSE, one of the world’s premier sports and entertainment organisations, whose brands include the Toronto Maple Leafs (NHL), Toronto Raptors (NBA), Toronto Argonauts (Canadian Football League) and Toronto FC (MLS), as well as the Scotiabank Arena, regarded as one of the top sports and entertainment venues in the world.

The highly-respected Kinnings, who worked at IMG as Colin Montgomerie’s long-time manager and along with other players such as Padraig Harrington and Matteo Manassesro, joined the European Tour group in 2018 and alongside his position of Deputy Chief Executive Officer, he is also the group’s Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Director – Ryder Cup.

In that latter role, he oversaw the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome – the most successful ever to be staged in Europe. He also has a wealth of experience in a large number of capacities across all aspects of golf, including in his previous role as Global Head of IMG’s Golf Division and, as mentioned above, starting out as a player manager with IMG.

“It has been a privilege to work closely with Keith since I joined the Tour in 2018. He set out to transform the European Tour group, and unquestionably he has done that”, said Kinnings.

“It will be a huge honour to take on this role in April and I am immensely proud to have been given this responsibility. I will continue to work closely with Keith, Eric (Nicoli, Chairman of the European Tour group) and the Board over the next three months to ensure a seamless transition.

“I look forward to working with our players, staff and partners in the game, as well as our very impressive Executive Leadership and Senior Management Teams, to continue to build upon everything our Tour has achieved in recent years.”

Kinnings will also step into the shoes as the European Tour’s representative, and join his PGA Tour colleague Jay Monahan in the continuing discussions with LIV Golf and the Saudi-backed PIF Fund, in striving to settle the dispute that last June rocked the men’s pro game to the core.

The parties involved were expected to make a formal decision prior to the end of 2023 but such word has been put back to around April.

The competing golf leagues agreed in June to combine commercial operations, shocking the global golf community and raising questions around competition and human rights considerations. Under the structure of the agreement, PGA Tour would hold a permanent controlling interest in the new entity’s board of directors.

If the proposed merger is completed, PIF is prepared to invest $1 billion into the new commercial business. The agreement also includes the DP World Tour, also known as the PGA European Tour.

One question that has to be asked, and this following news of Pelley’s departure, and that is will Monahan be next?



Comments are closed.