Keith Pelley also earned more than £2.5M in '16.GETTY IMAGES
PGA European Tour CEO Keith Pelley earned an "extraordinary financial package" of £2.78M last year, according to Charles Sale of the London DAILY MAIL. Pelley's pay is "far in excess" of that earned by the previous CEO of the European Tour, George O'Grady, who was earning a salary of £610,717 when Canadian businessman Pelley succeeded him in '15. The Tour's published accounts detail that Pelley also earned more than £2.5M in '16. Yet "despite Pelley's massive remuneration, no bumper new sponsors that would greatly improve revenue" have been added to the Ryder Cup or European Tour roster of backers during his time. If anything, the European Tour "has lost ground" to the "booming" PGA Tour. The accounts also show that during Pelley's tenure, "the number of external consultants used by the European Tour has doubled." A Tour spokesperson "would not comment on Pelley's contract," but said that the setup of the organization "had improved under his leadership" (DAILY MAIL, 9/26).
