PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA | Early Sunday afternoon, Jay Monahan showed his pass to a security official at the bottom of the stairs in the clubhouse at TPC Sawgrass before slowly making his way to the boardroom. The PGA Tour commissioner wore an Irish green jacket with a Players logo badge in the lapel. He had been to church that morning, run 3½ miles at low tide on Jacksonville Beach and then enjoyed a big family lunch with his father, aunts and uncles.
As the Players Championship leaders were teeing off a few yards away, the man who has been at the centre of golf’s civil war spoke carefully and thoughtfully about how he dealt with one of the most stressful and testing periods of his life.
His father, nicknamed “Joe the pro,” was an inspiration, Monahan said. “He has a love for the game that I would put against anybody. If he takes a day off from playing, he is scratching his head and scratching his face. He is a joy to play with. My brothers and I saw how hard he worked. Everything he got he earned, and everything he earned he and my mom put back into us. He has remarried and lives down here now. He’s got more friends in this town than I do.”
He cited his family. “Today is less a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day and more a celebration of my family, my heritage,” he said, picking at his fingers. “Every year it’s different, but I honour this day. I think about my great-grandfather leaving County Mayo and try and think what it was like to make the decision to leave Ireland and come here and end up in New England, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I think about that move. Whatever decisions we make in our lives that we think are challenging, think about how hard that move was.”
"I’ve always tried to operate with integrity. To do what I say I am going to do, and if I can’t do it to explain why I can’t.”
Jay Monahan
He said he was proud of the golf course and the tournament, of former commissioner Deane Beman, the Players’ founder, and the benefits that the event had brought to northeast Florida. He cited the building of John Turner Boulevard and the Mayo Clinic’s choosing of Jacksonville over Fort Lauderdale as being just two examples of the benefit of the tournament. The spotlight on Jacksonville led to the city having an NFL team. “Jacksonville has become a city of the world,” he said.
Earlier in the week, Monahan had made a presentation to Keith Pelley, the retiring chief executive of the DP World Tour who takes up a job as president and chief executive of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment in Toronto next month. Pelley said later how much he admired Monahan for his integrity. “I’ve never met anyone with more integrity,” Pelley said.
Hearing this, Monahan bowed his head. “I’ve been taught by my parents that it’s one of the most, if not the most, important traits. I’ve always tried to operate with integrity. To do what I say I am going to do, and if I can’t do it to explain why I can’t.”
Then he told a story about how his brother had lost a college tournament in a playoff and travelling home in the team van, was depressed at his performance.
The college coach said: “Every single day you wake up, you put your shirt on, right? Guess what’s emblazoned on the back of your shirt? It’s your family name. You represented your family very, very well today.”
Those words resonated with Monahan. “I go to sleep at night knowing I operate with integrity, and I know my integrity has been questioned, and that is a very difficult thing.”
And when that integrity was questioned?
“You have to look at why it is being questioned and understand that in the role I am in, I have to make decisions for this organisation and … for a large constituent base. A lot of people are not going to like the decisions, so you do the best you can to focus on the things you can control. You can’t control the way people respond. No one is going to steal my peace, and I am at peace that with this responsibility comes great criticism.
“I try and understand why someone would have a concern and question my integrity. You reflect on what you’ve done and whether you have done it in the best way possible, and you have to leave it.”
Harsh things have been written about Monahan during the game’s civil war.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the job the team has done,” Monahan said on Sunday. “There has been a lot of noise. We have made tremendous progress transforming our business with the move to the creation of [PGA Tour] Enterprises with our new partner [Strategic Sports Group], and I know when I put my head on my pillow at night we’re moving in a great direction, and we see a really positive outcome. I feel inspired by that. I feel determined.”
Do the harsh remarks sting?
“Of course, they sting,” he said. “I am a human being. But that is not a productive use of my time. Productive use of my time is to move this organisation forward. And until I’m told otherwise, that’s what I am doing.”
Being commissioner of the PGA Tour is a stressful job. Being commissioner at this difficult time increases the stress. How did he deal with it?
“I do things consistently,” he said. “I get up early. I spend time in my journal every single day, reflecting, writing. I don’t bring my journal with me on the road because I don’t want to lose it. That is how I start my day, every day. It’s a non-linear progression. If you were to read it, the dots don’t all connect. It’s what is on my mind that day, what my emotions are, what I accomplished, my family, my kids. I find it to be cathartic. It also helps me express my ideas clearly.
“I spend time in my faith. I work out most days. I don’t do the same workout every day. I try to stay flexible. My daughter comes down at 7:30, and I try to be at the breakfast table with her. She is a senior at high school, our youngest, and she’ll be off to college next year. I want to spend as much time with her as I can. I do a lot of the things I pick up in my reading. There is a long list of sayings I go through and repeat and are very grounding for me. They are perspective-based.”
He paused and then gave examples: “Focus on the things you control”; “balance and sustainability”; Robert Penn Warren – “we are all expressions of history”; Arnold Palmer – “the road to success is always under construction.” There’s probably 15 of them,” he said. “I find these things to be helpful reminders. We are in the business of swing tips and swing thoughts. These are my version of it.
“You go about your day. I am committed to sleeping. That was a great challenge to me over the past four or five years. My mind’s always working. At the end of the day, I am with Susan and Phoebe having dinner, spending time with my family. I am not immune to watching a great show if I am not reading. Trying to be not on my phone, spending time with my family and getting to bed at 10 o’clock every night. I am a good sleeper now, a 5-handicap.
“When you speak to nutritionists, my doctor, reading about sleeping, you find they are all interrelated. If you’re not eating well and you don’t have a system in place every day that holds you in check, it is really hard. I am not in a position where I can give anyone any advice. My system is working for me.”
Recently, there has been much discussion in Britain when an interviewer asked Prime Minister Rishi Sunak whether he made the bed at home and loaded the dishwasher. The same two questions were put to Monahan.
He smiled. “Am I going to get myself in trouble by answering this question?” he asked, laughing. “I am reading a book called Make Your Bed, by William McRaven [a retired Navy admiral]. “I’m up very early, 5 o’clock, so my wife is still sleeping. So, virtually every instance I am not making the bed because I don’t want to disturb her.
“As it relates to loading the dishes, I am absolutely a helping hand. In fact, I was doing that last night. I wouldn’t say I am perfect, but I am pretty good at loading and unloading the dishwasher. I’ve never been criticised for the outcome. There’s room for improvement, but I’m there.
Cooking? “I’m a griller. I think I am really strong in that area. We use our grill quite a bit. Standard propane grill. My friends, when I make my steak as I like to make steak with Montreal spice, I get some high marks.”
With that, he settled back in his chair, a smile on his face. He felt he had done his best. He felt he had been fair and honest in his answers. He felt he had shown integrity.
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Top: PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan addresses reporters before the Players Championship.
Ben Jared, PGA TOUR via Getty Images