It’s time for Monahan to face the music

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s annual pre-Players Championship press conference is always one of those Catch 22 situations for reporters.

You need to put aside an hour of your time to watch or read through the transcript, another hour or so to decide what’s newsworthy and what’s not and compile an article, but, spoiler alert, most of it is pre-prepared chest thumping as he tells us how the PGA Tour continues to go from strength to strength, followed by political non-answers and vague insinuations.

But this time, that won’t cut the mustard. Not when there are so many conflicting reports about what is happening with the prospective PGA Tour and PIF deal.

Just four weeks ago at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, Rory McIlroy was bullish about the need for some sort of reunification and to have the best players in the game competing with one another on a more regular basis; bullish to the fact that he suggested that those who were against it would just have to suck it up and get on with it.

“Whatever’s happened has happened and it’s been unfortunate, but reunification, how we all come back together and move forward, that’s the best thing for everyone,” he said. “If people are butt hurt or have their feelings hurt because guys went [to LIV] or whatever, like who cares? Let’s move forward together and let’s just try to get this thing going again and do what’s best for the game.”

But fast-forward three weeks, and the world number two was telling a very different story.

“I think the narrative around golf, I wouldn’t say needs a deal, I think the narrative around golf would welcome a deal in terms of just having all the best players together again,” he said. “But I don’t think the PGA Tour needs a deal. I think the momentum is pretty strong. TV’s been good, TGL’s been hopefully pretty additive to the overall situation. I answered this question at Torrey Pines two weeks ago, before, you know, the landscape might have looked a little different than it does now over these past couple of weeks, and I think a deal would still be the ideal scenario for golf as a whole. But from a pure PGA Tour perspective, I don’t think it necessarily needs it.”

Doing a 180-degree switch is far from unusual for McIlroy. We’ve seen it before on LIV issues, and it’s generally a good thing if people are willing to change their minds on an issue when presented with better evidence or a change in circumstance, but what could have changed in the three weeks to make Rory now declare that a deal with the PIF wasn’t necessary? And no, I’m not buying anything suggesting that the TGL is going to be anything more than a sideshow in future years.

“Look, I think it takes two to tango,” he added. “So if one party is willing and ready and the other isn’t, it sort of makes it tough.”

So, reading between the lines, it seems as though the PIF are getting cold feet. Why the PIF as opposed to the PGA Tour? Well, we know that Jay Monahan and the PGA Tour sought Donald Trump’s help in smoothing a path for a deal, and they wouldn’t have brought the US President into the fold if they weren’t willing to come to an agreement.

We’re now fast approaching the second anniversary of that June 06th shock Framework Agreement announcement and, again as McIlroy suggests, a deal that’s never felt close doesn’t feel any closer.

That’s why the Monahan press conference should be different – the media in attendance should be prepared to grill him on the matter and not accept lazy, evasive and non-committal responses.

Do the PGA Tour want to do a deal with the PIF? Do you think the PIF want to do a deal with the PGA Tour? What are the stumbling blocks? Do you want to have certain LIV players back playing on the PGA Tour? Do you think those players want to come back? Do you want LIV to wrap up and incorporate the leading tours into one body? What are you prepared to do if LIV start offering big financial packets to leading PGA Tour players once again? How long do you think the PGA Tour can continue to compete financially with the extremely deep pockets of the world’s wealthiest sovereign fund? What does the future of men’s professional golf look like if the cold war continues or if it evolves into something beyond a ‘cold war’?

These are some of the questions I expect Monahan to field, and I’m not expecting my media colleagues to settle for waffling responses this time.

So yeah, I’m actually looking forward to watching Monahan’s press conference and those are words I never thought I’d write.