ORLANDO, Fla. – “I don’t think I’m being subdued.”
That was Jay Monahan’s response during Tuesday morning’s scrum with media ahead of the Arnold Palmer Invitational when one reporter suggested that the PGA Tour commissioner seemed to project a less confident tone following a second White House meeting two weeks ago with President Donald Trump, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and player directors Tiger Woods and Adam Scott.
The question alluded to a recent Golfweek report by Eamon Lynch in which Lynch wrote, “Rumblings from informed sources suggest that Thursday’s meeting at the White House didn’t go as well as Tour executives had hoped.”
Monahan was adamant that the meeting was “constructive” and that conversations were progressing.
“I think anything that the three of us (Monahan, Trump and Al-Rumayyan) have said is consistent with what should be said when you’re in the middle of a complex discussion to try and unify the game of golf,” Monahan said. “It doesn’t speak to my confidence level; it speaks to the goal. I view that meeting as a huge step. And so, I look at that very positively.”
The PGA Tour policy board met last Monday in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, and the Player Advisory council was set to convene later Tuesday in Orlando, but Monahan added that no third White House meeting is currently on the schedule.
With the PGA Tour amid a busy stretch that includes next week’s flagship event, Monahan said of a deal being done and announced as soon as next Tuesday’s annual state-of-the-Tour address, “I don’t see that happening.”
Monahan also revealed that as part of the Tour’s Fan Forward survey, 70% of fans looked favorably upon reunification while 32% looked favorably on investment from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
As for PGA Tour members, Monahan isn’t naïve to think that every player is in favor of reuniting the game. He didn’t, however, put a percentage on how much of his membership supports allowing LIV players back onto the PGA Tour. (In response to Laurie Canter becoming the first former LIV player to qualify for a non-major, non-sanctioned PGA Tour event, Monahan said, “He’s earned his way … and we’re excited to have him.”)
“When you’re looking to reunify the game, not everybody is going to be happy,” Monahan said. “With our player directors and with our board, we’re highly conscious of reunification and focusing on that as a goal, and ultimately, when we get to that position, that’s a question we’ll all answer. But I’m hopeful that when you look at what we’re trying to accomplish, what that means for the PGA Tour and what that means for the game on a long-term basis, we will solve for that in the most effective and proven way we possibly can.”
