PGA Tour is ON TRACK to finalize merger with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, Jay Monahan says in first comments since his mystery ‘medical situation’
- The Commissioner returns after a medical leave due to anxiety issues
- Monahan said his only regret was keeping players in the dark about the deal
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The PGA is on track to finalize its merger with Saudi backers and LIV Golf, Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday in his first comments since returning from medical leave after suffering from anxiety-related issues amid the controversial deal.
He said his only regret in a proposed business partnership with Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund and the European tour was keeping players in the dark.
‘I put players on their back foot,’ he said.
Monahan was short on details of the proposed agreement with the media and players in his first meeting with them on Tuesday afternoon — mainly because negotiations are ongoing. Tour officials met with the Public Investment Fund last weekend.
He was bullish that a deal would get done by the end of the year, and that the PGA Tour is not considering any outside investors at the moment.
Jay Monahan said his only regret was keeping players in the dark about the deal
‘Our focus is on negotiating with PIF,’ he said, adding later that he was ‘determined to get this right.’ He said a definitive agreement by the end of the year ‘is the target and that is realistic.’
As for his health, Monahan said there were no guarantees he would return when he stepped away for five weeks. The timing was difficult. Monahan had announced the Saudi agreement on June 6 and met with players in Canada that evening. He described that meeting as ‘intense’ among reports some players wanted him to resign.
Monahan said his personality is ‘run into conflict, not away from it.’ But his health left him no choice but to step away.
‘The reality for me was dealing with anxiety that created physical and mental health issues and challenges for me,’ Monahan said. ‘I needed to step away and deal with that.’
He said he was determined to regain the players’ trust and ‘I see a clear path doing it.’
Monahan’s medical situation came about a week after he stunned the golf world by announcing the PGA Tour had ended its battle with the Public Investment Fund and LIV Golf by agreeing to a commercial business partnership.
Monahan, 53, spent nearly two months working on the deal with two PGA Tour board members, investment banker Jimmy Dunne and New York attorney Ed Herlihy, without any players’ knowledge.
LIV CEO Greg Norman and governor of the Saudi Arabia PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, were thrilled with the merger between the Tour and LIV Golf, which sent shockwaves around the world
Almost all of them said they were shocked. Some said they felt betrayed. The deal came nearly a year after Monahan made pointed remarks about LIV Golf’s source of funding, particularly as it related to any Saudi connection to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
When a news outlet broke an embargo, some players learned of the deal on social media before the tour could email them details. Monahan then faced a meeting with players at the Canadian Open that was described as intense and included a suggestion that he be replaced.
‘I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,’ Monahan said in a Zoom call with the media after the meeting.
‘Anytime I said anything, I said it with the information that I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that´s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players. I accept those criticisms. But circumstances do change. I think that in looking at the big picture and looking at it this way, that´s what got us to this point.’