PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan spoke for the first time publicly since the Tour Championship in August and confirmed that negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s PIF are advancing. But his introductory comments on the State of the Tour prior to the Players Championship and answers to questions from the media were thin on details.
Monahan repeatedly stated that it wasn’t in his best interest to negotiate publicly and often said “that he was moving forward” and “focused” on making the deal a reality.
“We’ve made and continue to make real progress in our negotiations and our discussions with the PIF. I recognize that this is frustrating for all of you, but it really is not in the best interest of the PGA Tour and our membership and for PIF for me to be talking about where we are with specific elements of our discussions,” he said. “I, again, I would just stress the fact that we’re engaged, we’re making progress, but I’m really not at liberty to share any of the details on that front.”
In short, it won’t go down as a very meaty press conference, but here are five of the more interesting topics and responses that Monahan delivered during his annual press conference: