PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on Saudi league talk: ‘We’re moving on’
Jay Monahan made it very clear Tuesday night where he and the rest of the PGA Tour stands regarding the rumored Saudi-backed golf league when he met with players at The Honda Classic.
It’s time to make a move.
“I told the players we’re moving on and anyone on the fence needs to make a decision,” Monahan said Wednesday, via The Associated Press.
The Tour commissioner also said that if anyone does leave for the Saudi league, he will lose his Tour membership card and likely won’t get it back.
Nearly every top golfer in the world has now distanced himself from the Saudi league, including Dustin Johnson and Brooks Koepka. Phil Mickelson, who has been the loudest active player supporting the Greg Norman-backed venture, apologized in a lengthy statement on Tuesday after he made “reckless” statements about the league.
Monahan declined to address Mickelson’s status with the Tour to The Associated Press, though Mickelson said he would step back from golf for the foreseeable future. His apology comes after he told author Alan Shipnuck for an upcoming book that he was willing to overlook horrific alleged crimes and human rights abuses Saudi Arabia has committed in order to reshape the Tour.
“I’m happy with the PGA Tour. I think everybody out here is happy,” Koepka said Wednesday from The Honda Classic. “[Mickelson] can think whatever he wants to think, man. He can do whatever he wants to do. I think everybody out here is happy, I think a lot of people out here have the same opinion.”
Monahan: ‘That validation was incredibly impactful’
After a week of constant chatter about the Saudi league, nearly every top golfer on Tour committed to staying away from the Saudi venture in one form or another.
Both DeChambeau and Johnson, who have been linked to it in recent weeks, reaffirmed their support for the Tour in statements on Sunday. Rory McIlroy slammed it repeatedly throughout the Genesis Invitational, and called it the “not-so-Super League.”
Though Monahan said there is “zero complacency” with most people wanting to stay on Tour, he certainly feels a lot better about the situation now.
“I know where a lot of our athletes stand,” Monahan said, via The Associated Press. “That validation was incredibly impactful and gave us a renewed sense of optimism.”
It’s impossible to keep talk of the Saudi league from bleeding into the Tour, and Monahan knows that. But in the meantime, he wants to focus on Tour events as much as possible.
Moments like what he saw last week at Riviera Country Club, he said, are far more important.
“All this talk about the league and about money has been distracting to our players, our partners and most importantly our fans,” Monahan said, via The Associated Press. “We’re focused on legacy, not leverage. You saw it last week with Joaquin Niemann winning, receiving the trophy from a legend [in tournament host Tiger Woods] who inspired him to take up the game. Those moments can’t be replicated.”
