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PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan says he regrets keeping golfers in the dark about the tour’s LIV Golf merger deal, but remains steadfast that the deal will be finalized this year.
“I put players on their back foot,” Monahan said in his first public comments since July 17. “That’s something I regret and will not do again.”
In June, the PGA Tour reached an agreement with LIV Golf, which is funded by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, to create a new entity to “unify” golf. The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) disrupted the sport when it created LIV Golf in 2021, which aimed to be a direct challenge to the PGA Tour. LIV Golf has been luring golfers away from the PGA by offering athletes millions of dollars to join its league.
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“There is the short term and there is the long term. Looking out over the horizon, we feel like this is the right move for the PGA Tour to create a new commercial model that allows PIF to invest … and to be able to grow the PGA Tour that will reward players and fans,” Monahan said.
“That’s what we think is the right path forward,” he added.
Monahan, who met with players on Tuesday to further discuss the PGA-LIV merger, is returning from a medical absence where he was “dealing with anxiety, which created physical and mental-health issues and challenges.”
Monahan’s meeting with players was lacking in details and attendance, with only 25 players attending in the clubhouse at the TPC Southwind.
“There’s still a whole lot that no one really knows, and we don’t know,” golfer Rickie Fowler said. “It’s just continuing to trust that leadership and everyone is doing what’s best for all of us and the tour moving forward. Some of that was talked about in calls before this. There really wasn’t that many guys in the meeting, or less than I thought there would have been.”
See also: Tiger Woods turned down LIV Golf offer in the ‘neighborhood’ of $700 million, says Greg Norman
“It was good just to have Jay there in front of us, see him again and see that he’s doing well,” golfer Tom Hoge said about the meeting. “Who knows what the path is going forward? I’ll guess we’ll just wait and see.”
When the deal was announced, many PGA Tour players were critical of it and voiced their concerns on social media. They pointed out that the PGA was critical of PIF and LIV Golf when it was luring golfers away from the PGA Tour with large sums of money, but seemingly happy to take the money for themselves. The proposed Saudi investment in the PGA as part of the deal, which is still being negotiated, could be “north of $1 billion.”
Monahan said he believes he can regain the trust of players.
“I see a clear path doing it, as difficult as that may seem right now for some,” he said.
Representatives from the PGA Tour did not respond to MarketWatch’s request for comment.
In a congressional hearing in July, PGA Tour board member Jimmy Dunne and PGA Tour COO Ron Price defended the impending deal with LIV Golf and the Saudi wealth fund, saying that the PGA would remain in control of golf. Senators used much of their time during the hearing to discuss human-rights abuses committed by the current Saudi regime and accused the nation of “sportswashing,” which is a term used to define entities using athletic events to improve a tarnished reputation.
According to the U.S. State Department, Saudi Arabia has been accused in recent years of multiple human-rights violations, including: unlawful killings; executions for nonviolent offenses; forced disappearances; torture and cases of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of prisoners and detainees by government agents; harsh and life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; and taking political prisoners or detainees, among other offenses.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
