PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan reiterated on Tuesday that he is the right person to lead the organization through its most trying time.
“I am the right person to lead us forward,” Monahan said at The Players Championship. “I know that. I believe that in my heart, and I'm determined to do exactly that.”
But not every player on the PGA Tour feels that way, including, reportedly, several player directors on the PGA Tour policy board. Monahan was asked to resign in December 2023, according to a report from No Laying Up.
Monahan was asked Tuesday if he had been asked to resign at any point in the last nine months that date back to the June 6 shock announcement of the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf's owners, the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Monahan artfully dodged the question.
“You know, there's been a lot of good spirited debate amongst our board. I don't think that would be a surprise to anybody, you know, given the events of last summer,” Monahan said. “But we are a unified front."
Monahan now finds himself as the new CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises, the for-profit subsidiary created to house the PGA Tour's media rights and other income streams. He's now on the PGA Tour policy board, just as PGA Tour Enterprises prepares to take on $1.5 billion in investments from Strategic Sports Group, fronted by his former employer, Fenway Sports Group. While there might have been players calling for his job, even those in board rooms with him, Monahan has managed to survive -- even improve his standing in a way.
"Our Policy Board continues to perform and function at a very high level with great support of our player directors, and the formation of PGA Tour Enterprises, with a new board, a new board comprised of four members of SSG, seven players, or six player directors and Joe Ogilvie, who is a liaison director, myself and Joe Gorder, who is the independent director serving on that board," Monahan said. "I'm excited to work with both boards.
"For me, honored to serve as commissioner and now be a member of the PGA Tour Policy Board, and also honored to be CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises and be a part of that board, and committed to working with each of those boards to make sure we're moving this business forward and achieving what we can achieve to its full capacity.”
That doesn't mean all the players are in full support of Monahan. Many recognize Monahan faced a remarkably difficult situation when the Saudis sought to inject billions into professional golf. Had he even taken that first call from the Public Investment Fund and Yasir Al-Rumayyan, LIV Golf may well still have been created. However, many players still feel deceived by the secret negotiations that led to the framework agreement, which was effectively an agreement to seek a bigger agreement -- one that hasn't been formed yet. Monahan says those talks have "accelerated," but that's nearly a year into the process.
Monahan may be in a relatively tenuous situation as commissioner. However, Policy Board member Patrick Cantlay seems to recognize that an imperfect commissioner is truly the only option for this moment in PGA Tour history.
“I think it's very important that we're all rowing in the same direction," Cantlay said, "and right now he's definitely our leader, and so it's important that we're all doing our best."
