Closing Shot: A Time of Reflection

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan leads a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. at the start of the tournament to focus on racial and social injustices.getty images

It’s not often that the PGA Tour commissioner makes an appearance on the first tee during the first round of a typical tour stop. It’s an appearance usually reserved for the tour-run Presidents Cup. But it was hardly typical when the tour returned to action at the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club.

For Commissioner Jay Monahan, restarting the tour marked a major moment not just in golf, but in sports and society overall. He stood on the first tee not only to herald the tour’s new beginning but to recognize the death of George Floyd with a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m., denoting the amount of time Floyd was pinned by the knee of the arresting officer who would later be charged with his murder. The tour also kept the 8:46 a.m. tee time open, and the golfers and others on the course came to a stop at that time.

“Thursday morning was really, really a meaningful moment,” Monahan said when he met the media on June 14 during the final round at the Fort Worth, Texas, course.

For Monahan and the tour, hosting the Schwab Challenge in front of no fans was no small feat as the sports world watched how the tour would conduct a tournament amid a pandemic.

“I think the biggest concern given the amount of time that we put into our testing and safety protocols was that even though we felt really good about the plan we had in place, if … we got into a situation where we were dealing with a number of positive tests, that’s something, candidly, that I lost a lot of sleep over in the weeks that preceded coming in there,” Monahan said.

By Sunday, Monahan could rest easier, as the tournament unfolded without any major issues and Daniel Berger went on to win the event in a playoff.

“It’s hard to pick a favorite moment because there’s so many along the way,” Monahan said. “I think just everybody being back together and being on property on Thursday, recognizing that the PGA Tour was returning, and to be back together in the environment of a PGA Tour event, knowing the incredible amount of teamwork that went into getting there, and I think seeing players interact with each other, players and caddies interact with each other.

“It’s almost like when you went away for school for the summer and then you come back in the fall, those first couple days, seeing people that you haven’t seen in a while. It’s that good feeling you have as a result of that.”