PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s employment status has been “cannon fodder for Tour rebels and LIV bots” for the better part of the last three years, and the latest round of player answers ranging from “tepid disapproval to earnest defense could be viewed through the prism of big-event posturing,” according to James Colgan of GOLF. Colgan asked “if the fraughtness of Monahan’s job security is nothing more than a narrative, why didn’t he say that?” When asked directly if any members of the Tour’s policy board had asked for his resignation, Monahan said, “You know, there’s been a lot of good-spirited debate amongst our board. I don’t think that would be a surprise to anybody, you know, given the events of last summer. But we are a unified front.” Colgan: “A unified front, yes, but a unanimous one? Not really.” Colgan wrote it is “tempting” to say that golf’s PGA Tour ranks have “split into two camps: the guys who want Jay to stay and the guys who want him to go.” But that is “what has made the first three days of Players week so interesting.” For the first time, it has “become clear that the real threat to Monahan isn’t either of these groups but a third one: the guys who still don’t know.” They are “not thrilled with the job Monahan has done,” but they are “not sure it’s yet reached the point of resignation.” And they would “sure like to see the outcome of these remarkably fragile and secretive negotiations with the Saudi PIF before they make a final determination” (GOLF, 3/13).
WORD OF APPROVAL: In London, Rick Broadbent notes Rory McIlroy said, “Yeah, I think so,” when asked if Monahan should be the leader of the new PGA Tour Enterprises. McIlroy: “You look at what Jay has done since he took over -- the media rights deal, navigating us through Covid, the strategic alliance with the DP World Tour. People can nit-pick and say he didn’t do this right or didn’t do that right, but if you step back and look at the bigger picture, the PGA Tour is in a far stronger position than when Jay took over” (London TIMES, 3/14).
OWN YOUR MISTAKES: SI’s Gabrielle Herzig noted PGA Tour player Viktor Hovland believes that Monahan has “made some significant misjudgments.” Hovland is “particularly upset that the commissioner hasn’t owned up to them.” He said, “There were some things that were said that have been walked back on and then things have been very contradictory. As a leader of an organization, I will want a person like that to take some ownership and say, 'hey, we made a couple of mistakes, but this is how we’re going to rectify it,' instead of kind of sweeping it under the rug, which I felt like has been done to a certain degree.” Hovland: “I don’t mind people making mistakes. We all make mistakes. But I think when you make a mistake you got to own up to it and say, 'hey, we’re trying to do better here, and this is how we’re going to do it’” (SI, 3/13).
RELATIONSHIPS MATTER: NO LAYING UP’s Kevin Van Valkenburg wrote it is “hard to talk about Monahan’s job performance without acknowledging the tangled web of relationships that exist at the corporate level of the PGA Tour.” Strategic Sports Group is fronted by Fenway Sports Group -- where Monahan was an EVP before he was named PGA Tour Commissioner in 2017. He was “recommended for the job” by Seth Waugh, who was at the time the CEO of Deutsche Bank but is now the CEO of the PGA of America. Monahan also went to Trinity College with FSG CEO Sam Kennedy. The PGA Tour’s VP ranks are also “rife with various Fenway Sports Group alums.” Monahan worked with Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy to negotiate a framework agreement with Yasir Al-Rumayyan and the PIF, and Dunne and Herlihy -- in addition to being PGA Tour Policy Board members -- are “two extremely influential members at Augusta National.” Van Valkenburg wrote “some players have been starting to wonder: What are Dunne’s and Herlihy’s motivations in all this?” Even if every decision made during the past year was done “in the best interests” of the PGA Tour membership, it is “hard not to wonder about the conflicts of interest, and what role they play.” Sources said that the SSG proposal was “one of a dozen proposals the PGA Tour Policy board considered,” and the players on the advisory board “reached an initial consensus that the Tour move forward in a partnership with the consortium Friends of Golf,” which is backed by billionaires Henry Kravis and George Roberts. But in the end, multiple players “splintered off and supported the SSG proposal instead.” The proposal Monahan backed “ultimately won out, which left a bitter taste in the mouths of some players” (NO LAYING UP, 3/13).
