Commissioner, Jay Monahan hosted the now annual PGA Tour ‘State of the Tour’ address and pulled no punches in admitting there has been a breakdown in the working relationship among all those bodies involved in the workings of the new rules introduced on January 1st.

The changes to the Rules of Golf had been enacted with the goal of not only making the game a little easier rules-wise but also to help speed-up play.

Unfortunately, and with so many ‘interested’ bodies involved in formulating the new rules including the R & A, USGA, PGA Tour and the European Tour, has seen an on-going controversy over the Rules and that has dogged the professional game since China’s Haotong Li was slapped with a two-shot penalty on the final day of the Dubai Desert Classic.

Monahan explained:

“There has been a lot of discussion about the rules, and I would like to use this moment to kind of step back and talk about what’s happened over the last six years,” he said.

“We the PGA Tour, along with every other golf organization, had really been really encouraging a review of the rules and really encouraging a modernization, a simplification. And the USGA and the R&A responded, and they responded with great zeal.

“And there was a process that we went through. We identified a number of rules that we felt got us there, got the game there. And that was the approach that we were taking. We got back the initial draft, we had an opportunity to reflect on that and share our opinions there. And then we turned the clock into this new year.

“We were fully supportive of the new rules because we were a participant in creating them. We had equal share, just alongside the other organizations.

“And then when we got together in Hawaii, I said that, you know, when you go through a period where you haven’t had a lot of change, and then you roll out 50 changes, there are going to be some things that work really well and some things that might create debate. Lost in some of the discussion is all the things that are working really well, and the list is long, and I think it’s right that we’re two and a half months in and there’s some rules, some existing rules that are causing debate and discussion.

“Again, exactly where we thought we would be.

“So, I spent two hours this morning with members of the R&A, the USGA, the LPGA, the European Tour, the PGA of America, Augusta National.

“We’re doing what we should be doing as leaders of this industry, which is talking about, one, where we are in the current state of rules. And again, everybody agrees where we thought where we would be. But more importantly, I think what’s happened here the last few weeks has just exposed a weakness in our working relationship, which happens when you got a lot of different organizations.

“So, we’re going to tighten that up, and we’re going to move forward in a way that is going to be good for the game and certainly is going to get us to the right place over time with these new rules, and I think we’re in a really good place right now.”