Photo by Richard Heathcote/Getty Images
Amidst the stunning news of the PGA Tour LIV Golf merger, tour commissioner Jay Monahan explained himself, or did he?
Tuesday morning, the sports world was shaken to its core. The PGA Tour announced they are merging with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour. This puts an end to the division within the sport of golf, primarily between the PGA and LIV.
Hours after the news surfaced, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan held a press conference to provide further detail on the matter.
“I know you’ve heard me say a couple times that circumstances change. What changed? I looked at where we were at that point in time, and it was the right point and time to have a conversation.. Going back to the origin of LIV, and I said this, they were going to go down their path and we were going to go down ours,” Monahan said.
“We’ve done everything within our control to improve and grow the PGA Tour… They have launched LIV, proceeded with LIV, made progress with LIV. But ultimately it was looking at the broader picture.”
If you were anything like me, after his words “what changed,” you were expecting him to reveal what changed. Instead, he was evasive to that answer while constantly looking down at his pre-written script of a statement.
Then again, I think we all suspect what changed.
Nevertheless, he went on digging his grave.
“I don’t think its right or sustainable to have this tension in our sport. To be able to organize this… where we are in a controlled position, we have an investor, a great world-class investor. I recognize everything that I’ve said in my past… I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite.”
You read that correctly. Monahan appeared to refer to the PIF (Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund worth an estimated $600 billion), as a world class investor.
The Saudi kingdom has been accused of numerous crimes against humanity, subjugation of women, and the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The 9/11 Families United organization blasted Monahan and the PGA Tour after the news broke.
Monahan had the gall to reference families close to him that lost loved ones during the terrorist attack while speaking with Jim Nantz last year.
“I think you would have to be living under a rock to not know there are serious implications (to joining LIV). As it relates to 9/11, I had two families close to me that lost loved ones. My heart goes out to them. I would ask… have you ever had to apologize for being a member of the PGA Tour?”
Jay Monahan’s shell of a statement Tuesday should not come as a surprise though. He wasn’t going to come out and say ‘I took the money.’ The promotion to CEO of global golf appears to say it for him.
But what is surprising is the fact that the PGA Tour players, and LIV golfers for that matter, were reportedly in the dark. They spoke about feeling betrayed and humiliated. It’s hard to blame them.
I cannot imagine being Rory McIlroy or any other player that stood by Monahan and the PGA Tour. McIlroy had been incredibly vocal, even recently, stating he was against European players joining him on the Ryder Cup team.
That’s probably washed away now, as the sportswashing of golf continues.
