Dawson will leave his role after 16 years in charge of the body that oversees the rules of golf and organises The Open Championship.

He will also leave his position as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

But insidethegames has been told the announcement does not affect his position as President of the IGF.

Following his appointment as joint secretary of the IGF in 1999, Dawson helped to secure the return of golf to the Olympic programme at Rio 2016 after more than a century since its last appearance at the Games.

In 2010 he was appointed President of the IGF and recently had his term of office extended by the IGF Board to include Rio 2016.

The Scot took over from Sir Michael Bonallack as R&A chief executive in 1999 and was instrumental in changing the organisation's structure, which saw it separate from the private member Royal and Ancient Golf Club in 2004 to form a separate entity to run The Open Championship and govern the sport.

The R&A is in charge of running golf worldwide along with the United States Golf Association (USGA).

In statement released today, the R&A said Dawson will be retiring from both roles in September 2015.

It went on to highlight the growth and development of the game under his tenure, particularly since the restructure 10 years ago.

"This evolution enabled The R&A to focus on its governance role, running successful championships and supporting the growth of the game around the world, and the club [Royal and Ancient of St Andrews] to concentrate on catering for the needs of its more than 2,000 members," said the statement.

Peter Dawson will also stand down as secretary of the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews ©Getty Images






It added: "The Open Championship has enjoyed continuing commercial success throughout Mr Dawson's tenure enabling the R&A to invest substantially in supporting the development of golf around the world through rules education, grassroots initiatives, coaching, the provision of greenkeeping equipment and university golf.

"The R&A now works with 152 affiliated organisations from the amateur and professional game in 138 countries and jointly administers the rules of golf, the rules of amateur status, equipment standards and the world amateur golf ranking with the USGA."

The R&A has revealed that the search for Dawson's successor is underway and will be handled by international executive search firm Spencer Stuart, with the position to be advertised this weekend.

It says an appointment is expected to be made in sufficient time to allow for an appropriate handover period in 2015.

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