Some PGA Tour gamers confronted commissioner Jay Monahan and known as for his resignation throughout a day assembly Tuesday on the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.
PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner instructed Golf Channel that there was loads of anger within the room after Monahan got here to a merger settlement with LIV Golf and the Saudi Public Investment Fund with out consulting with the gamers.
“It was contentious,” Wagner mentioned. “There were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour and even got a couple standing ovations.
“I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted Commissioner Monahan from the 3M (Open) in Minnesota last year when he said, ‘As long as I’m commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again.’ It just seems like a lot of backtracking.”
PGA Tour veteran and main champion Geoff Ogilvy of Australia instructed reporters the assembly was not informative, saying he received the sense that the tour rushed the announcement earlier than it needed to make it.
“(Monahan) just sort of explained the structure, how it’s going to look going forward,” Ogilvy mentioned. “Didn’t really talk specifics. It was a tough meeting for both sides, I think for Jay and all the players, because nobody really knows what this is going to look like in the end.”
Monahan, 53, is the fourth commissioner in PGA Tour historical past and has held the place since January 2017. Whether or not he resigns, he gained’t maintain that title for for much longer.
With the Saudi Public Investment Fund making a capital funding within the new entity shaped by the merger of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan can be its chairman and Monahan is about to be the CEO.
“I don’t know that this is necessarily the correct term, but if it’s possible I gained even more respect for Jay because he was taking it from every single angle,” Wagner mentioned. “Players were mad, players were calling for (his) resignation, and Jay sat there and took it like a champ, he really did. Now, he didn’t specifically answer a lot of questions of what the path would be like for LIV players coming in the season of ‘24. He kind of left it up to it’s his discretion … so a lot of players didn’t like that.”
Monahan accepts ‘hypocrite’ claims
Monahan, who appeared on CNBC with Al-Rumayyan for an interview Tuesday morning, held a name with choose reporters after assembly with the gamers in Canada.
“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan mentioned. “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.”
The deal reportedly was negotiated over the course of the final seven weeks, and key gamers like Tiger Woods and Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy — who stood by Monahan and the PGA Tour whereas sharply criticizing LIV Golf — weren’t let in on Monahan’s choice till the final minute.
“Obviously Tiger and Rory’s perspective is one that I understand very well, and it was part of my thinking throughout these conversations, and it will be a part of my thinking going forward,” Monahan mentioned. “Now that we’re in a framework agreement, I look forward to talking to all of our players, including the two of them, to make certain that this comes off the right way.”
Monahan mentioned the settlement is barely a framework and that he hasn’t studied every thing concerning the LIV Golf mannequin.
Woods and McIlroy have but to publicly remark. McIlroy, the defending champion of the Canadian Open, is scheduled to talk to the press Wednesday.