LONDON | David Williams adjusted his spectacles and fixed his gaze on the plate of sandwiches that had been placed in front of him. He took a knife and slowly and neatly sliced the crusts from each piece of bread, pushing them to the side of his plate, filleting his sandwich as if it were a trout that had not been boned. That image of the chairman of the DP World Tour and the sandwiches may be as long-lasting as white trousers and sometimes no socks are of Seth Waugh, chief executive of the PGA of America, and any one of the 12 pairs of gaily-coloured spectacles worn by Keith Pelley, chief executive of the DP World Tour.
Williams is retiring on 31st December after a nine-year term. It’s his 77th birthday, as it happens, and it is the day after Tiger Woods’ 47th birthday as well. Williams describes himself as a modest golfer, at best, and he is the first to say that any further connections between his golf and Tiger’s are beyond consideration.
Williams is understated, neat in dress, quiet of voice, thoughtful and almost as keen to listen as some are to speak. Earlier in the day, he had been playing golf at Dulwich and Sydenham Hill, the course where Peter Oosterhuis, the English Ryder Cup player and later commentator on U.S. TV, learned his golf. It is his home club and he is the current captain.
Now he is tucked into a corner of the smoking room of one of London’s famous clubs on Pall Mall, the sort of joint in which Phileas Fogg plotted his 80-day ’round the world voyage in Jules Verne’s novel. It was used as the cabinet room by the British government during the Second World War. Had Williams looked around the large room, he would have seen all the accoutrements of such a club – massive brown leather armchairs in which a person could lose himself, mahogany writing desks with crested club notepaper, coffee tables, oil paintings on the walls and a fire burning quietly. Members were having tea, playing chess, some sleeping, as wait staff moved around the room bringing their food or drink orders like ships delivering cargo to port.
No sooner had he settled into his chair than he was bubbling with enthusiasm at the achievement the previous day of Dan Bradbury, the 23-year-old from Wakefield in the north of England, who, ranked 1,397th in the world and playing on a sponsor’s invitation, had led the Joburg Open from start to finish, thereby gaining a two-year exemption on the DP World Tour as well as entry to next year’s Open at Hoylake. “Bradbury had no sponsor, no one there to support, his dad was at home looking after the dogs, he was miles down the world rankings and now look at him,†Williams said with a degree of awe in his voice. “Golf is such a meritocracy.†He looked so pleased you’d have thought he was Bradbury’s father.
When Williams was contacted in 2013 by a headhunting firm seeking a new chairman for the European Tour, he was flabbergasted and replied: “You’ve got to be kidding. It is the last thing on my mind. Why would I want to do that?†He went home that night and said to his wife: “I’ve just had the most extraordinary phone call, but we won’t be doing it. I don’t feel it’s right for me.â€
"I was quite prepared to go in and do what I needed to do, knowing I wouldn’t be particularly popular.â€
David Williams
Slowly though, his view changed. “I spoke to a lot of people. I spent time looking at accounts and things, and the more I looked at it, the more I found myself falling for it.†After being interviewed by, among others, David Jones, Robert Lee and Christopher Hanell, all former tour players who were on the nominations committee, Williams took over from Neil Coles, who had been chairman for 38 years, on 1st January 2014.
Williams is a graduate of the London Business School and past chairman of its alumni council, so it is not surprising he brought with him the business principles on which he insisted at some of the 20 chairmanship jobs he had held at companies such as Wagamama, Oasis Dental Care, and the chain of bars known as the Slug & Lettuce. “I thought it (the European Tour) needed a lot of restructuring, a lot of change,†he said. “That is what I have done for many years. I am not scared of it. I was quite prepared to go in and do what I needed to do, knowing I wouldn’t be particularly popular.â€
So, he did, and initially he wasn’t. There was considerable affection for the previous tour officials. Popularity never concerned him. “There was a slight feeling of an outsider coming in and people saying, ‘What the hell do you know about this?’ †Williams remembered. “But that didn’t bother me. I was aware from my previous work how sport was changing, the world of professional sport, in communications, TV and in business generally. I was prepared to make these changes, backed by the board. It was run in a very amateur way. People won’t like me saying that, but it is a fact.â€
Proper governance is not just a passing interest of Williams’ but a hobby horse. He insisted that no member of the board should serve more than two three-year terms. His own succession plan was clear when he appointed Eric Nicoli, formerly chairman and chief executive of EMI Group, first as a board member and then as vice chairman. In his insistence on correct governance, he is as on point as he could be. A large crypto currency exchange company named FTX has just collapsed while the media tycoon Rupert Murdoch and Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle, were among those who invested in Theranos, a blood-testing firm, the head of which has just been jailed for 11 years because of fraudulent business practices. “Doesn’t anyone do due diligence any more?†asked a writer in the Financial Times last week.
Williams has overseen many changes, the restructuring of European Tour Enterprises being one that brings him considerable pleasure, and seen the arrival of LIV Golf, which doesn’t. “There is a level of disappointment when I see members suing members,†he said. “I don’t think that is right. A level of disappointment that golf, which is such a fantastic sport and game, is in the midst of at the moment. It is not the ending of my time at the European Tour that I would have liked, but you can’t always choose how things end.â€
Pelley, brought in by Williams, wrote in an email: “David arrived with two main objectives: (i) to introduce the best practices of corporate governance to our Board and to the Tour as a whole and (ii) to ensure we were as professional outside the ropes as our players were inside them. He has achieved both of these goals and much, much more. There is an old saying in sports that all you should really look to do is leave the jersey you are given in a better place than when you got it. There is no question David has done that.â€
Top: DP World Tour chairman David Williams (right), with tour CEO Keith Pelley (second from left), helps Jon Rahm (left) and Rory McIlroy celebrate after the DP World Tour Championship in November.
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