PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | The silence was striking Tuesday morning as PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan walked into the media center at the Players Championship for his first extended question-and-answer session since the Tour Championship last August.
Someone suggested the commissioner needed walk-up music, but that belongs to another golf league that Monahan never specifically named during his nearly hour-long give and take.
This was Monahan’s moment, and he was, at various times, resolute, forceful, optimistic, defensive and necessarily evasive.
This is an unprecedented moment in the game’s history, and navigating the tour through the most serious threat it has faced in its existence requires him to have a heavy foot one moment and tap dance at another.
The players and public want answers, but Monahan offered more perspective than a specific path forward. Details of the negotiations, which Monahan characterized as “accelerating,” are being kept super-secret.
Anyone hoping for a bombshell announcement Tuesday morning left disappointed.
Those hoping that the battle for the soul of professional golf eventually will be resolved got just that – hope.
“I am the right person to lead us forward. I know that. I believe that in my heart, and I am determined to do exactly that.” – Jay Monahan
“I do believe that negotiating a deal with [Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund] is the best outcome. Obviously, it has to be the right deal for both sides, like any situation or negotiation,” said Monahan, who met with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in Saudi Arabia in January.
Having been criticized for his perceived reluctance to address LIV Golf’s initial threat and later for his abrupt about-face when the “framework agreement” with the PIF was announced June 6 to the shock of almost everyone, especially the tour players, Monahan also declared himself as the man to lead the tour and its newly funded, for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises business into the future.
“I am the right person to lead us forward,” Monahan said. “I know that. I believe that in my heart, and I am determined to do exactly that.”
Patrick Cantlay, one of the player directors on the tour’s Policy Board, expressed his support of Monahan on Tuesday, saying, “It’s important that we’re all rowing in the same direction.”
Xander Schauffele isn’t so sure.
“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,” Schauffele said.
However, having added the duties of CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises to his LinkedIn profile, Monahan is likely secure in his positions after having landed the commitment from the Strategic Sports Group, which will invest approximately $3 billion into the tour’s operation.
Bringing the consortium of pro sports magnates into the tour’s operating universe has helped push the negotiations along, Monahan said.
Whenever he was asked about specifics regarding the negotiations with the PIF, Monahan deflected the question.
Asked if there is a path forward for LIV golfers who left the PGA Tour to return in the future, Monahan would not speculate.
“I recognize that this is frustrating for all of you, but it really is not in the best interest of the PGA Tour and our membership and for PIF for me to be talking about where we are with specific elements of our discussions,” he said.
“I would just stress the fact that we’re engaged, we’re making progress, but I’m really not at liberty to share any of the details on that front.”
A global tour as suggested by Rory McIlroy?
The concept has been discussed, Monahan said.
Team golf if an agreement is reached?
“I’m not at liberty to discuss specifics,” Monahan said.
The threat of more players leaving like Jon Rahm did late last year?
He’s focused on who is still on the PGA Tour.
Did he entertain the possibility of Anthony Kim returning to the PGA Tour?
“I’m glad that Anthony is healthy and well, and we wish him well,” Monahan said.
While the players are the beneficiaries of record purses and a new equity fund that will spread more than $900 million among fewer than 200 recipients, it has diverted attention away from the week-to-week tournament stories that drive the business.
The point Monahan wanted to make – and he addressed it almost immediately – was to acknowledge the potential disconnect with fans who have grown weary of the seemingly incessant talk about money, division and perceived entitlement.
It’s a genuine issue. While the players are the beneficiaries of record purses and a new equity fund that will spread more than $900 million among fewer than 200 recipients, it has diverted attention away from the week-to-week tournament stories that drive the business.
“They’re tired of hearing about conflict, money and who is getting what,” Monahan said.
The situation in which the PGA Tour finds itself – fighting to maintain its place as the game’s ultimate competitive platform against LIV’s excessive spending spree – has played out in public, but the work to resolve it is being done in private.
It has raised the issue of trust again considering that Monahan’s initial unwillingness to engage in discussions with the PIF was followed by the stunning June 6 announcement of a framework agreement with the Saudi fund.
The commissioner has been forced to reconcile that reversal, which blindsided virtually everyone, while keeping the details of any negotiations away from the players whom he represents.
“That is a difficult element to this,” Monahan said.
What happens if there is no resolution?
Is it possible to make everyone happy?
“However we end up, I think that we’re not going to be able to satisfy everyone, and that goes for both sides,” Monahan said.
“But what we’re trying to do is to get to the best possible outcome again for the tour and for the game, and I do think that that’s achievable.”
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