Jimmy Walker, a past winner of the US PGA Championship, has harshly criticized Jay Monahan for how he handled the LIV Golf merger situation and implied that he didn’t respect the commissioner.
Regarding the ongoing talks about a merger with LIV Golf, former US PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker has taken aim at PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan in a caustic manner.
In recent months, Walker has expressed his opinions about Monahan and the PGA Tour without holding back, and he was once again unafraid to criticize the commissioner.
While many stars on the former tour had wanted nothing to do with the Saudi-backed league, the PGA and LIV shocked the sports world last summer when they announced that they had begun negotiating a deal to merge.
To the chagrin of players like Rory McIlroy, Tiger Woods, and Walker himself, the PGA appeared to have reached an agreement without first consulting any of its players.
But the 2016 major champion went a step further, implying that he doesn’t really respect what Monahan said before seemingly disparaging his intelligence.
“I don’t pay much attention to what Jay says anymore,” Walked said to Bunkered. believe he’s delusional. They’ve kept us in the dark and handled a lot of this really badly. Do I still believe in the Tour? I’m not sure. I genuinely doubt that some of the best and brightest minds are working on it.”
In an unusual press conference earlier this week, Monahan stated that the PGA Tour still plans to establish official relations with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF). Nine months have passed since the original announcement, and the slow-moving negotiations have raised some questions before the merger.
However, Monahan responded, saying, “I will be brief because, as I have stated many times, you cannot negotiate a deal like this in public. Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, and I recently met, and the more time we spend together, the faster our negotiations are moving forward. We all share the same vision to silence the critics and realize golf’s global potential, even though there are still a number of important issues that need to be resolved.
“I want to reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August, but it will take time. For the PGA Tour and the sport in general, I see success. Most importantly, I think our wonderful fans will come out on top.”
When the PGA and LIV announced they were merging, Monahan came under heavy fire, with McIlroy being particularly incensed about the proposed arrangement.
Monahan responded, “There are always things when you look back that you would do differently,” when asked if he would have handled the previous nine months differently. I have discussed it with our players, but it’s clear from looking back at last summer that I could have handled it better, and I fully accept responsibility and accountability for that. I’m responsible for that.
Nevertheless, since then, we have advanced greatly and moved on. We’ve come a long way since then, and I’m thrilled about the progress we’ve made. I’ve been humbled and learned from it, and I believe it has made me a stronger leader.”
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