PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan dropped a bombshell on the golf world when he announced Tuesday that the Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s PIF, which had underwritten LIV Golf, have agreed to merge their commercial interests.
While that will put an end to the messy legal entanglements that surely were a concern to all parties, Monahan is in the doghouse with his players, fans and even the 9/11 Families United, who blasted him for becoming “a Saudi shill.”
Speaking to the Golf Channel from the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto on Wednesday, Monahan attempted to explain his reasons for his about face and why being partners rather than rivals with PIF is in the best interest to golf’s leading entities, stressing, “This was an opportunity to unify the game and put the PGA Tour in a control position.”
Here’s more from Monahan.