PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said Wednesday he would meet with Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan next week, while emphatically asserting that other investors would join us to “help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us.” take part in other sports and be even more competitive.
Monahan spoke at the New York Times DealBook Summit, covering a number of topics from the tumultuous past year, including the ongoing threat of losing players to LIV Golf; the surprise framework agreement of the tour with the PIF in negotiations unknown to the players, and the leave Monahan has been careful to address his own mental health issues.
Monahan, tour commissioner since 2017, returned to his position in late July but faced harsh criticism from some players for the lack of transparency during PIF negotiations and concern expressed by some that he is no longer the best person to lead the tour. .
Monahan, 53, did not address those concerns during his Wednesday speech; instead, he presented himself as a key player in continuing negotiations with the PIF and other potential investors. A deadline of December 31 has been set for an agreement to be finalized in the initial framework agreement.
“We are having conversations with multiple parties,” Monahan said. “As you know, the deadline for our conversations with the PIF is a firm target. I’ll be with Yasir next week. And we continue to move our conversations forward. And I think it’s well known that there are a lot of other interested parties that we’re urging to think about as well.”
Fenway Sports Group and investment firm KKR & Co. co-founder Henry Kravis are among the entities reportedly interested in a stake in the tour.
“When this is finalized,” Monahan said, “the PGA Tour will be in a position where…the athletes own their sport, and you not only have the PIF, but you probably have another co-investor, with experience significant impact in business, sports and branding that will help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us gain share in other sports and even be more competitive.
Following the astonishing announcement of June 6 concerning the PIF agreement, Monahan felt criticism from several quarters, and this situation came to a head when, a week later, it was announced that the commissioner was taking a leave of absence from the tour for health reasons. Monahan revealed in August that he suffered from anxiety related to the PIF situation that caused him physical and emotional distress.
“I think what’s going on in my head at this time is not much different than what’s going on in my head over the previous months,” Monahan said Wednesday. “This was a protracted conflict.”
It clearly hurt him to leave at such a critical time in the tour’s history.
“I knew I was the first person to get into a fight,” Monahan said. “Anyone who knows me will tell you that. And I knew the perception was that I was running away from a fight. And it was excruciating. It hurt me to my core.
In his most insightful comments since his absence, Monahan described himself as “a work in progress”, while noting that he has taken steps in his life, both mentally and physically, to rectify some of his past problems of stress management.
“You’ll hear a lot of people say, ‘I focus on the things I can control.’ I wasn’t doing a good job,” Monahan said. “I was confusing it. I am completely focused on the things I control. And so, you have to realize that this is part of life, this is part of who I am. , this is my truth. And I’m a work in progress. And I try to improve every day.”
That said, Monahan continues to believe his decisions during the year have put the PGA Tour and its players in a better position for the future.
“People have made much bigger decisions than the one I made and, ultimately, the one we’re going to make,” Monahan said. “You have to look to the horizon, you have to believe deep in your heart that what you are doing is the right decision. And you have to be willing to accept all the criticism, and there has been a lot of it, and there will continue to be so.
