Jay Monahan will have his work cut out for him when he returns to a PGA Tour in turmoil this morning after a month-long medical absence. At the top of the commissioner’s to-do list: Regain his players’ trust.
It won’t be easy.
Three of the tour’s staunchest loyalists during the past year’s fight with insurgent LIV Golf – Americans Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele – spoke last week about their lack of trust with Monahan in the wake of the stunning deal announced June 6 with the Saudis and their Public Investment Fund. No players – not even the five on the Policy Board nor the 16 on the Player Advisory Council – were given a heads-up about the proposed framework agreement, which aims to create a for-profit business seeded by significant funding from the Saudis and run separately from the not-for-profit PGA Tour.
“He had my trust, and he has a lot less of it now,” Schauffele, a seven-time tour winner and member of the 2021 U.S. Ryder Cup team, said last week at the Genesis Scottish Open. “I don’t stand alone when I say that. He’ll just have to answer our questions when he comes back.”
In cautioning that he has “quite a bit” of trust concerns with tour leadership, three-time major champion Spieth said he expects Monahan will be “preparing for a plan to try and build it back.”
Added Scheffler, a two-time winner this year and the world’s top-ranked player: “We still don’t have a lot of clarity as to what’s going on, and that’s a bit worrisome. They keep saying it’s a player-run organization, and we really don’t have the information that we need.”
An attempt to answer some of those questions, not only for tour players but for a curious American public, unfolded Tuesday during a nearly three-hour hearing before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Tour executive Ron Price and board member Jimmy Dunne testified in Monahan’s absence.
“This hearing and our investigation is ultimately not about golf,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut who chaired the committee and served as the tour’s chief antagonist. “We’re here because we’re concerned about the PGA Tour’s deal in terms of what it means for an authoritarian government to use its wealth to capture American institutions.”
In advance of the testimony, a 276-page document outlining key points in the proposed framework agreement was released. Two of the key points – $1 billion of Saudi investment and the PGA Tour’s demand to remove Greg Norman as commissioner – could help ease Monahan’s return.
But as the players emphasized, they’ve got plenty of questions for him. READ MORE
Tony Marshall, R&A via Getty Images
The PGA Tour, which faces antitrust scrutiny from the Justice Department, agreed with the PIF to remove the provision that promises they will not recruit the other’s players, according to The New York Times. The move reportedly was made under pressure from the DOJ. READ MORE
Rory McIlroy, one of the most outspoken critics of LIV Golf, really didn’t need to clarify his opposition to the rival tour. But after the disclosure during last week’s Senate testimony about a Saudi wish list that included McIlroy and Tiger Woods owning LIV teams and competing 10 times per year on the tour, he didn’t hold back. “If LIV Golf was the last place to play golf on earth, I would retire.” READ MORE
The 2026 Open Championship will be played at Royal Birkdale Golf Links in Southport, England, the R&A announced. The dates will be July 16-19. READ MORE
LIV Golf will wrap up its second season with a two-week stretch on two continents in October, the tour announced. LIV Golf Jeddah will be played October 13-15 at Royal Greens in King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia, followed by LIV’s Team Championship on October 20-22 at Trump National Doral near Miami. READ MORE
LIV Golf made a big play into real-time gambling by entering into an agreement with Simplebet to distribute the league’s data to sports betting operators. READ MORE
The R&A has increased the prize fund for this week’s Open Championship to $16.5 million, an 18-percent boost from last year, and will pay the winner $3 million, a 20-percent bump from Cameron Smith’s $2.5 million payday in 2022.
Despite those double-digit hikes, the Open still ranks last among the four men’s major championships in payout and will be only the 16th-largest purse on the PGA Tour this season, trailing 12 “designated” events as well as the other three majors: Masters ($18 million), PGA Championship ($17.5 million) and U.S. Open ($20 million).
The 151st Open begins Thursday at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, England. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Lahinch, the renowned links course on Ireland’s northwest coast, will host the 2026 Walker Cup, the R&A announced. The dates will be September 5-6. The biennial match, which pits the top male amateurs in the U.S. against their counterparts in Great Britain and Ireland, will move from being played in odd-numbered years to even-numbered years beginning in 2026 to avoid future conflicts with the World Amateur Team Championships. The WATC, which is conducted by the International Golf Federation, moved to odd-numbered years beginning in 2023. Future venues for the Walker Cup: The Old Course in St. Andrews, Scotland (2023) and Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California (2025). READ MORE
Spikemark Golf will manage scoring and ranking services for college golf beginning with the 2023-24 season, the NCAA announced. Spikemark was created by former college coach Derek Freeman, who led UCLA’s men to the 2008 national title, in consultation with statistics expert Mark Broadie, who developed the PGA Tour’s strokes-gained concept and the Official World Golf Ranking algorithm. Spikemark replaces longtime scoring provider Golfstat. READ MORE
Peter Kuest has parlayed a two-week hot streak into special temporary membership on the PGA Tour, meaning that he can accept unlimited sponsor exemptions for the rest of the year. Kuest, 25, a native Californian who played college golf at Brigham Young and turned pro in 2020, is merely the latest example of players earning their way onto the first rung of the PGA Tour ladder this year with a couple of good results, according to Associated Press golf writer Doug Ferguson. READ MORE
Jane Park will return to the LPGA this week after a two-year absence during which she cared for her ailing daughter when she teams with fellow American Paula Creamer at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in Midland, Michigan. Park will compete with her husband, Pete Godfrey, on the bag and daughter, Grace, who suffered severe brain damage after seizures related to her intractable epilepsy, in attendance. Commemorative hats will be sold, with the proceeds to benefit the Epilepsy Foundation and the Golf4Her foundation. READ MORE
The recent U.S. Women’s Open at Pebble Beach rated as the most-watched edition of the championship in nearly a decade, NBC Sports reported. The tournament averaged 895,000 viewers, up 118 percent from last year and the largest audience since the 2014 Women’s Open at Pinehurst, when 1.03 million viewers saw Michelle Wie’s victory. READ MORE
The Women’s All Pro Tour, a developmental tour, will be renamed the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour beginning in 2024 after entering into an agreement with Annika Sörenstam and her Annika Foundation. READ MORE
Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas are teammates in a different game. The two American golf stars have bought shares in 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, and soon will be part of the major owners of English soccer club Leeds United, according to Sky Sports. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon