Who Is Keith Pelley? 14 Things You Didn't Know About The DP World Tour's CEO

Get to know the DP World Tour's CEO, Keith Pelley, a little better with these 14 facts

Keith Pelley at the Kenya Open 2023
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Keith Pelley is one of the most important people in professional golf as the CEO of the European Tour group - but how much do you know about him? We've listed a number of facts about his career and personality to help you learn more...

1. Pelley was born in Toronto, Canada in 1964.

2. In August 2015, Pelley became the fourth Chief Executive in the 50-year history of the European Tour group, which incorporates the DP World Tour, the European Challenge Tour, the Legends Tour and the G4D Tour.

3. As the DP World Tour's CEO, he is also the managing partner of the Ryder Cup in Europe.

4. He was the team president and CEO of Canadian Football League team, the Toronto Argonauts between 2003-07.

5. As a child, Pelley enjoyed playing American Football and was a running back in the Etobicoke Minor Football League - the town he grew up in.

6. He studied at Trinity College London and gained an ATCL diploma before moving on to the Radio and Television Arts Program (RTA) at Toronto Metropolitan University - formerly Ryerson Polytechnical Institute.

7. Pelley was elected as the new Chairman of the International Golf Federation (IGF) in December 2022 and will continue in that role until 2027.

Keith Pelley at the 2023 Abu Dhabi Championship

(Image credit: Getty Images)

8. Before joining the DP World Tour, Pelley was president of both The Sports Network in Canada as well as the country's Olympic Broadcast Media Consortium.

9. Pelley is married to Joan with children called Jason and Hope.

10. At university, he completed some work as a TV reporter for what is now Omni Television.

11. As president of Rogers Media, Pelley was directly involved in negotiating a $5.232 billion contract with the National Hockey League which gave RM the Canadian broadcast rights for all NHL games (including playoffs) until 2026.

12. Pelley lives in England, with the DP World Tour headquarters based at Wentworth Club in Virginia Water, Surrey.

13. Per his own Instagram, Pelley confesses to having a "European heart" and being the owner of "a very bad short game!"

14. In an interview with the New York Times in 2017, Pelley revealed his first-tee walk-up music if he was a player at the Ryder Cup would be 'Sultans of Swing' by Dire Straits.

Jonny Leighfield
Staff Writer

Jonny Leighfield is our Staff News Writer who joined Golf Monthly just in time for the 2023 Solheim Cup and Ryder Cup. He graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in Sport Journalism in 2017 and spent almost five years as the sole sports reporter at his local newspaper. An improving golfer who still classes himself as ‘one of the worst players on the Golf Monthly team’, Jonny enjoys playing as much as he can and is hoping to reach his Handicap goal of 18 at some stage. He attended both the 150th and 151st Opens and is keen to make it an annual pilgrimage.