Jay Monahan’s leadership : What’s the feeling about it at THE PLAYERS 2024 ?

Jay Monahan has been sitting on a volcano since negotiations between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) became public. Even from a little earlier, when the LIV Golf began to take some of its main stars.

However, Jay Monahan has remained in his position through thick and thin. His position has even been strengthened, as he was appointed CEO of the new company PGA Tour Enterprises, which emerged as a result of the agreement with the Strategic Sports Group (SSG). It is worth remembering that Monahan increased his annual income by the “insignificant” sum of $4.9 million from one year to the next (according to data from Sportico).

The above does not mean that Jay Monahan enjoys unanimous support, at least that is not the case among players. During the press conferences leading up to THE PLAYERS Championship 2024, several stars answered questions about it, and not all of them sang praises for the commissioner.

Let’s look at some of these opinions about Jay Monahan leadership:

Viktor Hovland:

“There were some things that were said that have been walked back on and then things that have been very contradictory. As a leader of an organization, I will want a person like that to take some ownership and say, ‘hey, we made a couple of mistakes, but this is how we’re going to rectify it’, instead of kind of sweeping it under the rug, which I felt like has been done to a certain degree.”

“So I don’t mind people making mistakes. We all make mistakes. But I think when you make a mistake you got to own up to it and say, hey, we’re trying to do better here, and this is how we’re going to do it.”

Rory McIlroy:

“Yeah I think so [that Jay Monahan is the right person to be the CEO of PGA Tour Enterprises]. I mean, you look at what Jay’s done since he took over, you know, the media rights deal, navigating us through Covid, the strategic lines with DP World Tour, creating PGA Tour Enterprises that we were just able to accept a billion and a half dollars into the business.

“I mean, people can say he didn’t do this right or didn’t do that right, but if you actually step back and you look at the bigger picture, I think the PGA Tour is in a far stronger position than it wasn’t for Jay. I think some of the reaction to June 6th was warranted, but I think at this point it’s eight months ago and we all need to move on, we all need to sort of move forward and try to bring the game back together.”

Xander Scahuffele:

“I would say in my book he’s got a long way to go. He could be the guy, but in my book, he’s got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership. I’m sure he’s got the support of the board, since they were with him making some of those decisions, but for me personally he’s got quite a ways to go…”

“To be completely honest, I would consider myself pretty uninformed. Haven’t really sought out a whole lot of information just because, you know, when I felt like I did, I didn’t get any.”

Not only was Jay Monahan talked about

While PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan took center stage in the questions to players, there was also a lot of thought about just how good of a golf product the PGA Tour currently offers.

In terms of opinions, there was everything, from references to Talor Gooch’s “asterisk” to calls to allow LIV Golf players to return. Let’s see:

Max Homa:

“Less commercials is a good start. I do feel like we’re stuck in this age where we’re nitpicking absolutely everything. I’m not going to say I haven’t done that as well in my free time, but I’m kind of getting over it. It’s golf. It’s slower. It’s not football, it’s not basketball. But there’s a lot of beauty in it. I think if I had to pick one thing I would like, Fridays out here are awesome when we do have a cut. I think something just to lean into, Friday’s not determining the golf tournament, let’s follow some guys sweating the cut line. Little things like that.…”

“If Tiger [Woods] plays more, I think that would help, as well. But I think the nitpicking of it is getting kind of tired, & we could just do a better job of just shutting up and playing some golf & doing our best to entertain.”

Justin Thomas:

“[About THE PLAYERS Championship’s field] it’s still been the best field in golf for many previous years. Yeah, you could always make an argument that there’s other tournaments that are or are not. The PGA Championship has been the deepest field in terms of the most top 100 players, and I’m not just saying that for selfish reasons, it’s just the truth.”

“I know what you mean in terms of World Ranking and guys that are or aren’t on the TOUR anymore, but that’s just kind of the reality that… and what they have put themselves in… I’m not going to have an asterisk next to my name for winning this because the field wasn’t too good, right.”

Billy Horschel:

“It’s unfortunate that we don’t have some of the best players in the world here… I did have a conversation with Jay Monahan about a year and a half ago about if the majors were going to let the guys that went to LIV, shouldn’t we maybe let them in?”

“If we see ourselves as a fifth major, which I believe we are, shouldn’t we, maybe put out a little bit of olive branch…? Take out the world rankings, take out everything. Everyone knows by the eyeballs test who the best players are in the world and I think, hopefully, a year from now we will have all the best players back here again playing.”

Tommy Fleetwood:

“If I win The Players… if there was just me in the field, I’d be perfectly happy. I would play with the media team, and I’d be happy winning The Players! I’ve got a chance; I would rather it be like that! If we win one of these tournaments, I’m not going to put it in my trophy cabinet and be worried about a few players missing, really.”

The fact is, there is anything but a united front on the PGA Tour regarding Jay Monahan or almost any other issue. At least, on the players’ side.