Although Jay Monahan met with the head of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in the Bahamas, the PGA Tour commissioner is remaining silent about the talks.
When it came to providing PGA Tour players with updates on the status of the circuit’s negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), Jay Monahan seemed to be playing it close to the vest.
In light of the recent split, the PGA Tour and its Player Directors met with Yasir Al-Rumayyan and PIF on Monday to discuss a potential agreement to bring professional golf back together. On social media, PGA Tour, PIF, Tiger Woods, and Fenway Sports Group planes were seen landing in Nassau, Bahamas, on Monday, the day of the meeting.
Following the peace negotiations, Commissioner Monahan wrote to the PGA Tour membership to say that the talks had been “constructive,” but he did not go into much detail about what was discussed.
He wrote, as reported by ESPN: “The entire discussion was fruitful and constitutes a significant portion of our due diligence procedure in identifying possible investors for PGA Tour Enterprises. This is similar to the strategy we used to assess an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group earlier this year.
“Yasir had the opportunity to introduce himself to our player directors during the meeting and discuss his goals, priorities, and reasons for making an investment in professional golf. We will try to keep you informed as we move forward with these discussions with the PIF, but please be aware that we must stick to our policy of not holding negotiations in public.
“Therefore, at this time, we will not be making any more comments to the media.” Players who have expressed their dissatisfaction with the commissioner over his handling of the situation since and his initial choice to team up with their Saudi rivals may become even more tense as a result of the lack of negotiation details.
Following the shock framework agreement announcement in June of last year, three-time winner Johnson Wagner reported that Monahan held a heated player-meeting at the RBC Canadian Open, with some Tour members demanding a change in leadership.
Xander Schauffele, one of the most prominent players on the PGA Tour, has expressed his reservations about Monahan’s leadership in the past and reaffirmed them at the Players Championship last week. The world No. 5 questioned the trust between the players and the commissioner, saying: “I think [Monahan] still has a long way to go. Trust is something that’s pretty tender, so words are words.”
“He could be the guy, but in my book, he’s got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership.” There was further frustration vented towards Monahan following last Sunday’s final round, after golf fans were heard booing when the American was introduced in the post-tournament presentation at TPC Sawgrass.
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