PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan dropped a bombshell on the golf world when he announced Tuesday that the Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which had underwritten LIV Golf, have agreed to merge their commercial interests.
While that will put an end to the messy legal entanglements that surely were a concern to all parties, Monahan is in the doghouse with his players, fans and even the 9/11 Families United, who blasted him for becoming “a Saudi shill.”
Speaking to the Golf Channel from the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto on Wednesday, Monahan attempted to explain his reasons for his about face and why being partners rather than rivals with PIF is in the best interest to golf’s leading entities, stressing, “This was an opportunity to unify the game and put the PGA Tour in a control position.”
Here’s more from Monahan.
Monahan on his lack of transparency
“There’s no question that yesterday was a setback, and I’ve had setbacks before and in terms of rebuilding the trust it begins with having conversation like I had through the night last night and being here in the morning and talking to players and explaining to them this deal and how this is a great outcome for every PGA Tour member and the game. I don’t expect everybody to understand right off the bat. I think this is going to take some time but when you look out over the horizon I’m entirely confident when I talk to our players that this is where I’m going to take them. That’s essentially where we are right now.
“The PGA Tour is in a control position. We have a lot of flexibility in our business. We have an opportunity through productive capital to reinvest in our Tour and our membership and reinvest in our game. When anyone looks 3, 5, 10 years down the road, I’m confident that those results will be delivered.”
Monahan on 'owning his hypocrisy'
“I understand the criticism I’m receiving around the hypocrisy and me being hypocritical given my commentary and my actions over the last couple of years. As we went forward and reached a compromise, that was one of my great considerations. Any hypocrisy I have to own, nobody else. That’s on me. It shouldn’t be directed at the membership, that’s on me. As we sit here today, I’m confident we did the best thing for the game and the best thing for all of our members.”
Monahan on 'letting confidentiality prevail'
“I read Terry’s (Strada, chair of 9/11 Families United) comments. Obviously, I acknowledge her loss and completely understand her position. I think about the fact that I let confidentiality to prevail here and in allowing confidentiality to prevail, I could not communicate to very important constituents including the families of 9/11 and I regret that, I really do. As we sit here today, I think it’s important to reiterate that I feel like the move we made and how we move forward is in the best interest of our sport. We’ve eliminated those fractures. But for many difficulties that caused on that front, I have to own that as well and that comes back to communication.”
Monahan on rewarding 'loyalty' of PGA Tour players
“Their loyalty will be rewarded. I will spend every single waking hour as we move forward here that the players that have created this PGA Tour, that have created this pro-competitive, legacy driven juggernaut, that have articulated and supported the direction that we are going in. Ultimately the decision we made I believe is going to make it better for all of our players. Loyalty ultimately in a leader is something that must be rewarded. How it manifests itself is something I’m going to spend a lot of time working on and when we’re having this conversation down the road that’s something I look forward to having more specifics about.”
