Xander Schauffele issued a spiky reminder to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan that he is not close to fully recouping all of the trust lost last summer during the 30-year-old's pre-Players press conference on Tuesday.
The seven-time PGA Tour winner has been particularly outspoken about how blindsided and betrayed he felt in the past following the PGA Tour's shock agreement with the DP World Tour and the Saudi PIF.
Back in July 2023, Schauffele said: “I don’t trust people easily. He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now. So I don’t stand alone when I say that."
Since then, Monahan has worked extremely hard to try and recover his status among the tour's membership and begin to rebuild trust with his players.
But following Monahan insisting that he knows he is "the right person" to lead the PGA Tour forward in his own press conference on Tuesday, Schauffele provided a sobering moment for the embattled leader.
Schauffele said: "Yeah, I mean, you know what I've said in the past on how I feel about it. Trust is something that's pretty tender, so words are words, and I would say in my book he's got a long way to go.
"He could be the guy, but in my book, he's got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership. I'm sure he's got the support of the board, since they were with him making some of those decisions, but for me personally he's got quite a ways to go."
🗣️ "He's got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership." oXander Schauffele explains why it will take some time for players to trust and believe in the PGA Tour leadership of Jay Monahan ⏰ pic.twitter.com/hRLjTFUG2pMarch 12, 2024
A key part of rebuilding those bridges with players is likely to involve Monahan and his fellow board members sharing a greater packet of information with the PGA Tour membership - especially regarding negotiations with the PIF.
In the aftermath of a separate question about transparency and whether the players are hearing any more than is being shared in the public domain, Schauffele admitted he does not know any more than anyone else.
He said: "To be completely honest, I would consider myself pretty uninformed. Haven’t really sought out a whole lot of information just because, you know, when I felt like I did, I didn’t get any.
"I’m a pro golfer at the end of the day, so I have to hope that things can go well at some point, but, yeah, I have seriously no details or extra facts to throw out to you. And if I did, I don’t know if I would tell you, to be completely honest."
Meanwhile, much has been made about the strength of the field at this year's Players - with many stating that it has certainly lost its status as the unofficial fifth Major due to the mass exodus of PGA Tour golfers to LIV.
Ahead of his sixth appearance, Schauffele did not try to defend the quality of this year's line-up and admitted the absence of two current Major champions is far from ideal.
He said: "I don’t think it helps the tournament. Yeah, I mean I think you would like to have those players playing, in an ideal world, but I feel like we’re sort of beating a dead horse in this media room a little bit.
"I mean, everyone kind of knew what was going to happen when they made a decision, and this was probably the highest probability chance of the outcome, which is to have people on different tours at the time.
"I know the guys are working on getting everyone back together, but in the meantime, I’m kind of on the page of it is what it is."
Schauffele is due to tee off alongside Sam Burns and Tommy Fleetwood in round one at TPC Sawgrass on Thursday at 4:24pm EDT (12:24 GMT).
