Thomas Bjorn, the captain of the vanquished Europe team at the recent Vivendi Trophy event and European Tour chairman has resigned from his post.
Despite an attempt by the committee to change his mind, Bjorn handed in his resignation on Wednesday and the Dane could not be persuaded to stay on as chairman.
Bjorn recently criticised Irishman Padraig Harrington in regards to proposed changes to Tour rules, but has stepped down after admitting the job has taken a toll on him in recent weeks and distanced himself from any suggestion his resignation is linked to his row with Harrington.
In responding to claims by Harrington, Bjorn had accused the former two-time Open Champion of using the media to voice his opinions regarding Tour matters, rather than to the committee and felt the Irishman was above the Tour committee.
However, Harrington had voiced his concern over proposals to force players to commit to competing in a certain number of Tour events in order to try to help the tour weather the economic storm by seeking to attract the big names to compete more. Harrington is, however, opposed to the idea and instead the idea has been mooted to introduce a points system which encourages players to play in more Tour events with a likely minimum points score to reach throughout the season in order to retain membership.
Bjorn recently took a lengthy hiatus from the game after suffering bouts of dizziness and extreme tiredness which eventually led to brain scans in a bid to determine the cause.
Both Harrington and Bjorn are contesting the Portugal Masters at Oceanico Victoria.
