It seems like the ‘will they/ won’t they’ PGA Tour and PIF saga has been ongoing for decades, but if Jay Monahan’s recent comments are anything to go by, the saga is set to rumble on for some time yet.
Talking to the press ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, he PGA Tour commissioner was always going to be asked for an update on the state of the nation regarding the drawn-out negotiation process, but anybody hoping for any kind of meaningful insight was clutching at straws.
“They’re very complicated discussions,” Monahan said. “There’s a lot of elements to them. When you have the level of interaction, we’re continuing to meet and move forward and discuss and debate, you can’t be anything but hopeful.
“As it relates to times and timeframes and where we are, I’ll just say we’re in a good place with the conversations. That’s the most important thing.”
Shortly before taking to the media centre at TPC Southwind, the PGA Tour released the 2025 schedule which, barring a few minor tweaks, is basically the same as that we saw in 2024 so we can safely assume that any coming together of the rival tours won’t happen before 2026 at the earliest.
“I have a lot of meetings on the subject,” Monahan added when pressed as to whether he had sit-downs planned with the PIF governance. “I’m not going to get into the specifics of it. It’s a clear focus of mine, it’s a clear focus of the organisation. That said, there is a lot of dialogue.”
Earlier in the day, Rory McIlroy who, along with Tiger Woods and Adam Scott, is one of the PGA Tour players on the ‘transaction subcommittee’ formed to help broker a deal between the PGA Tour and partner Strategic Sports Group and the PIF, admitted that though the transaction subcommittee continue to talk regularly, he admitted that the players haven’t been regular contributors and didn’t elaborate further as to who is actually involved in those calls.
“No, I haven’t been on a transaction committee call since June maybe, the Memorial,” McIlroy said. “The players aren’t expected to hop on those Monday, Wednesday, Friday calls. I actually haven’t been on one — it’s been wonderful. It’s been great.”
PGA Tour Policy Board member Patrick Cantlay, was pressed on the subject a day earlier, and, unsurprisingly, the normally stoic American gave little away, only revealing that little was happening and that he was enjoying the silence.
“Well, it’s definitely quieted down, and I agree with you, there hasn’t been as much chatter the last few months, which has been nice,” Cantlay said.
“I think that’s just kind of the nature of it. There’s going to be ebbs and flows, depending on what kind of information comes out or what announcements.
“When you say ‘end in sight’, it’s always evolving. The PGA Tour has always been changing and trying to evolve and get better.
“Depends what you mean by – what you define as the finish line. But I know all of us are working incredibly hard all the time to get the best outcome.”
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