Trust or Not The PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s Mouth; Golfers & Fans In a Fix

Eleven months ago, CBS questioned PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan about a group of 9/11 relatives who “expressed their outrage” at golfers like Phil Mickelson for defecting to the LIV Golf Tour, which is funded by Saudi Arabia.

By saying, “I have two families that are close to me that lost loved ones” in those terrorist acts, Monahan positioned his tour as the ethically superior alternative.

Have you ever felt like you had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour? That’s a question I’d want to pose to any player who has left or is thinking about leaving the tour. Monahan enquired. They may have no choice but to now.

Although “merge” is a polite way to phrase it, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said on Tuesday that the organization would be joining forces with LIV.

The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund is the sole investor in the new company, although the PGA Tour controls the board that governs golf operations.

The Saudis have effectively taken control of the PGA Tour. They are the undisputed rulers of the sport.

It will be very challenging, if not impossible, to forget what Monahan said that day on CBS and throughout the year and a half long PGA Tour-LIV business fight. How could you make that agreement less than a year after discussing your friends’ murders on national television?

Who could possibly believe that? Why would anyone put their faith in him? The Saudis have neatly promoted him to CEO of both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, but how can anyone — especially the players who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour while losing hundreds of millions of dollars — follow him now?

On Tuesday, Monahan admitted, “I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite.”

What he says is true. Reports from a Tuesday players-only meeting at the Canadian Open stated that 90% of those there disapproved of him and that many people wanted him to leave.

As far back as I can recall, Monahan has maintained that the Tour was a “player-driven” league. The team seems to want someone else to take the wheel at this time.

The problem is that the Saudis do not. No one here gives a hoot about the fact that Monahan comes off as a lowlife for treating 9/11 victims like a PR gimmick before treating them like a used napkin when negotiations get serious.

They need him to head the new group since he’s a known quantity and a symbol of stability and capitulation.

This isn’t a takeover, you see. This is referred to as a “merger.” This relationship can be described as a “partnership.” One may call it a “investment.” Why is the former person still here if it wasn’t?

Now that he has publicly humiliated and double-crossed his team of elite athletes, Monahan faces the difficult task of leading this group.

Tiger Woods was rumored to have been offered $1 billion by the Saudis, but he turned down the offer in order to reportedly save the PGA Tour. It’s the reality that they’ve moved up to be the Tour’s first line of defense.

The fact that they imitated Monahan in criticizing the defectors’ patriotism and values in addition to LIV’s credibility and competitiveness.

They obeyed his every order. They propagandized for him. Then he backstabbed them, making them appear foolish for having repeated his words in the first place.
There were good reasons for Monahan and the other few PGA Tour leaders to strike this pact.

Most importantly, they were embroiled in a shielded commercial and legal war with a vastly more prosperous organization.

The PGA Tour is a legitimate organization with associated obligations and costs. LIV is the marketing division of the $600 billion PIF.

In the long run, it doesn’t matter if it loses money, racks up legal bills, or overpays for aged stars. It might cause the PGA to implode. The end result here was predetermined. It was inevitable that LIV would prevail.

Perhaps Monahan made the greatest possible deal, and the PGA Tour players will now be able to play the same tour they always have, but with greater financial rewards.

But can he, of all people, really sell that?

Many top golfers, like Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods, Jordan Speith, and others, have stayed with the PGA Tour despite lucrative offers elsewhere. Perhaps they felt it was important to record their journey for posterity.

Perhaps the Saudi connection was something they wished to avoid. Perhaps Mickelson and Greg Norman were viewed in a negative light. But Mickelson and Norman came out on top.

McIlroy and the like will have to face the LIV defectors for the rest of their careers, and the LIV players will always be bitter that they believed Jay Monahan and thought the PGA Tour had morality and wouldn’t eventually sell out.

They’re in a state of shame now. They were taken on a ride. The man who manipulated them is still in charge.

On Tuesday, Monahan clarified that he always speaks the truth: “Anything I said, I said with the information that I had at that moment,” and with the idea that the other person was attempting to compete against the PGA Tour and its players in mind. “I agree with your criticisms.

However, things may and do alter. I believe that it was our ability to step back and see the larger picture that led us to this point.

In essence, he is claiming that he made outrageous claims and used 9/11 widows as props in an attempt to discredit LIV. However, money ultimately proves victorious in this world.

It’s possible he’s right. Will there be any takers among the players? If the stars align… Is Rory, the most broken of them all, able to let go and forgive?

That’s the test that Monahan must now take. This wasn’t only professional. All of this hit close to home. No one can trust whatever he says while he’s in charge.

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