Graham Brown, a member of the rules committee of the R&A, has been stood down as an official at the Open Championship at Carnoustie following complaints about after-dinner jokes that were interpreted as racist.
Brown, a member of the Royal Liverpool club, had been speaking on Tuesday evening at the annual dinner of the Association of Golf Writers.
Peter Dawson, chief executive of the R&A who himself attended the dinner, pointed out that it was a private function and that Brown could not be considered to have been representing the R&A.
Brown was said to have been horrified at the reaction and apologised for any offence caused.
Yesterday, however, an R&A spokesman said: "It was mutually agreed, given the media interest in this matter, that Graham Brown would take no further part in this championship."
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