PGA Tour Chief Confident Of A Positive Outcome In Dealings With PIF

2 years ago by Comments Off on PGA Tour Chief Confident Of A Positive Outcome In Dealings With PIF

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan addressed the media ahead of this week’s season-ending Tour Championship sounding confident a working agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will be reached thanks to the “sincerity and intensity” of the negotiations.

It was just a few months ago Monahan was facing calls to resign while a fortnight ago, just 25 players from the 70 teeing-up in the FedEx St. Jude Championship chose to attend a players meeting Monahan hosted in Memphis.

Monahan said he did not see such moves as an indictment of how the Tour had been run and insisted the Framework Agreement was not signed solely to halt the costly litigation between golf’s rival factions, and he responded to a suggestion by a member of the media in attendance that the proposed merger was merely a mechanism to stop the costly and likely lengthy litigation battles that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf were undergoing.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan fronting the media ahead of 2023 Tour Championship in Atlanta

“I would say that we operate in good faith and I see that on both sides,” said Monahan.

“If you were to see the amount of conversation and the amount of time the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF are spending working forward from a framework to a definitive [agreement], I think you’d see the sincerity of the efforts there.

“There are frequent talks. We’re probably right where I would expect that we would be. There’s an intensity and there’s an urgency and there’s a lot of work, good work, that’s being done.”

Joining Monahan at the East Lake media conference was PGA Tour president Tyler Dennis, who is leading the talks with the PIF Fund along with chief operating officer Ron Price.

“Ron and I have been actively engaged weekly, multiple times a week.

“It progresses daily and it’s very positive and collaborative in nature.”

Monahan would not answer a specific question on LIV Golf’s future, but feels the players understand the need for confidentiality.

“I think if I were to succinctly put it, and this is the way Jack Nicklaus put it to me, the proof is in the pudding,” Monahan added.

“So I think players are now saying, ‘OK, I understand what we’re trying to accomplish and why we’ve taken this step. I understand the confidential nature of what we’re dealing with and how you plan to handle that within the governance.’

“As we move forward… there’s a responsibility, an expectation from them towards me and the team that we’re going to be in a position to communicate a positive outcome for the PGA Tour.”

And Monahan remains bullish that necessary agreements will be in place by January 1 when the as yet unfinalised deal with the PIF is set to become reality.

“We’re confident that we’re going to reach a positive outcome for the PGA Tour,” he said, “and as it relates to reason not to believe or believe, you know, at this point, given what Tyler [Dennis, PGA Tour President] just outlined and what I said, no, I don’t have any reason to think that we won’t be successful.”



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