PGA Tour players call for commissioner Monahan’s resignation after LIV Golf merger
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PGA Tour players are calling for commissioner Jay Monahan to resign after news of the merger with LIV Golf emerged.
PHOTO: EPA-EFE
TORONTO – Some PGA Tour players have confronted commissioner Jay Monahan and called for his resignation during an afternoon meeting on Tuesday at the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.
One of them, Johnson Wagner, said there was plenty of anger in the room after Monahan came to a merger agreement with LIV Golf and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF)
The bombshell announcement on Tuesday prompted the golfers to call a meeting to get details of a deal that many only learnt about on Twitter or in a later e-mail.
“It was contentious,” Wagner said. “There were many moments where players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour and even got standing ovations.
“The most powerful moment was when a player quoted Monahan from the 3M (Open) 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.”
Australian PGA Tour veteran and former US Open champion Geoff Ogilvy said the meeting was not informative and got the sense the PGA rushed the announcement sooner than it wanted to make it.
“(Monahan) just sort of explained the structure, how it’s going to look going forward,” he said. “Didn’t really talk specifics. It was a tough meeting for both sides, for Jay and all the players, because nobody really knows what this is going to look like in the end.”
South Korean An Byeong-hun felt that the news was a “win-win” for both tours, as “the LIV teams were struggling to get sponsors and PGA Tour couldn’t turn down the money”. But he also said: “It’s a big lose for who defended the (PGA) Tour for last two years.”
Rory McIlroy – who with Tiger Woods stood by the PGA Tour while criticising LIV Golf – also felt the new partnership would benefit the game.
The defending champion in Toronto said on Wednesday: “Ultimately when I try to remove myself from the situation and I look at the bigger picture, 10 years down the line, this is going to be good for professional golf. It unifies and secures its financial future.”
Whether or not Monahan resigns, he will not hold that title for much longer. With the PIF making a capital investment in the new entity formed by the merger of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV, PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be its chairman and Monahan its chief executive.
Monahan, 53, had said the agreement is only a framework and that he has not studied everything about the LIV Golf model. He held a call with select reporters after meeting the players in Canada.
“I recognise that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” he said. “Any time I said anything, I said it with the information that I had at that moment; 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, that’s what got us to this point.”
The deal reportedly was negotiated over the course of the last seven weeks. Key players like Woods and McIlroy were not let in on the decision until the last minute. McIlroy said: “I still hate LIV; I hope it goes away and fully expect that it does... At the end of the day, money talks and you’d rather have them (PIF) as a partner.”
On those who left to join LIV, he said: “We can’t just welcome them back. They harmed the PGA Tour.”
Bryson DeChambeau, who was one of the first big names to sign up for LIV Golf, said he felt “bad” for those who stayed loyal to the PGA Tour and turned down eye-watering sums from LIV Golf.
“They were told one thing and something else happened. It does stink a little bit from my perspective the PGA Tour players are not necessarily winning. I hope they can find a way to make sure they are valued in the same way that we are over at LIV,” he said on CNN.
Meanwhile, the Asian Tour called the merger “a massive stride forward” for golf. It added that the agreement “validates” its decision in 2022 to link up with LIV Golf, which made an initial commitment of more than US$200 million (S$270 million) to the tour.
“This is a great result for all parties concerned – the fans, brands, broadcasters, the tours and their membership,” commissioner and chief executive Cho Minn Thant said. “This hugely significant development validates our decision to collaborate with LIV Golf to elevate the Asian Tour’s standing in the game.” REUTERS, AFP
