Don Rea Jr., who came under fire after his delayed response to unruly fan behavior directed at the European team at the Ryder Cup, is out as president of the PGA of America, effective immediately, it was announced.
The board of directors announced a leadership "transition" on Friday after announcing that Rea had been suspended for the remainder of his two-year term, which ends in November. PGA of America vice president Nathan Charnes has been named acting president.
Rea initially compared vitriolic, expletive-laden comments directed toward Rory McIlroy and the rest of the European Ryder Cup team in September at Bethpage Black to what could be heard at a youth soccer game. A week later, Rea apologized in an email to the 30,000-plus golf professionals he was elected to serve, saying then that "some fan behavior clearly crossed the line" and was "disrespectful, inappropriate, and not representative of who we are as the PGA of America or as PGA of America golf professionals."
Rea went on to say he didn't represent the PGA of America "in the best light with some of my comments."
His apology came after PGA of America CEO Derek Sprague had already apologized to McIlroy and his wife, Erica.
Rea also took heat for an awkward trophy presentation in which he mentioned Europe had retained the Ryder Cup, instead of winning it.
It is not the first time that the PGA of America has abruptly removed its president. Ted Bishop was forced out of his position in 2014 after a social media post in which he angrily referred to Ian Poulter as a "lil girl."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
