Rory McIlroy has backed PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan after several other golf stars raised concerns about the executive’s management of the historic golf tour.
Speaking at the Players Championship on Tuesday, Matt Fitzpatrick and Xander Schauffele delivered brutal verdicts when asked if the commissioner is the right man to help the PGA Tour move forward and get the best deal in its ongoing merger talks with LIV Golf. backed by Saudi Arabia. league.
Monahan also addressed the current state of the PGA Tour, stating that talks with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund were “accelerating.” The 53-year-old also insisted during a press conference on Tuesday: “I am the right person to lead us forward.”
Monahan initially came under scrutiny last summer, when it was revealed that the PGA Tour had reached an explosive deal with arch-nemesis LIV Golf over a merger. The commissioner had previously rejected claims that the tours could be united, but faced much backlash and calls to “resign” from some members, while others had “felt betrayed”.
However, McIlroy today endorsed Monahan, stating that he has helped transform the PGA Tour in recent years to what it is today.
“Yes, I think so,” he said when asked if the commissioner was the right man for the job. ‘If you look at what Jay has done since he took over. The media rights deal, guiding us through COVID, the strategic alliance with the DP World Tour.
“I would say that by creating PGA TOUR Enterprises we were able to take a billion and a half dollars into the business, people can be nitpicky and say they didn’t do this right or they didn’t do that right, but if you actually take a step back and look at the big picture, I think the PGA TOUR is in a much stronger position than when Jay took over.”
Shock waves were sent through the golf world when the initial announcement of the merger came in June last year, and McIlroy was one of the harshest critics of the Saudi-backed rival league.
After being one of LIV’s biggest adversaries, McIlroy reacted to the merger news by stating that he felt he had been left as a “sacrificial lamb.” But in recent months, as the merger neared, McIlroy did a 180-degree turn, claiming that unification is the only way golf can improve as a sport.
He said: “I think some of the reaction to June 6 was justified, but I think at this point it’s been eight months and we all need to move on.” “We all need to move forward and try to put the game back together.”
But he admitted he was unsure what the future of golf would look like and said unification could still be some way off.
“I think if you just unified the game and brought us all together in some way, it would be great for the fans, I imagine,” said the four-time major winner, who will be looking to win his second Players Championship. this weekend at TPC Sawgrass.
“I think that would put a positive spin on everything that’s happened here, and I think it’s okay, let’s get together, we’ll all move forward, and I think people could get excited about that.”
‘Again, I don’t know what that looks like, and it seems like it’s probably further away than it should be, but that’s my perspective on it.
The Northern Irishman’s Ryder Cup teammate Fitzpatrick is one of the few big names in the sport to have expressed concern about Monahan’s direction.
“I think he’s the right man to close this deal.” Fitzpatrick said sky sports on Tuesday. ‘I don’t know. Probably not on paper. I think now that you’ve probably been in the thick of it and know what’s going on, it would be difficult for someone new to come in and catch up quickly.
‘So you obviously have in mind if someone could come in and do that that quickly.
‘I don’t know. Is he the right person? Probably not on paper. But here we are… It’s not like we have a choice.’
The 2023 US Open champion is not the only player who has expressed concern about the commissioner’s management of the historic tour, with Xander Schauffele also saying Monahan has a long way to go to retain his trust.
“Trust is a pretty tender thing,” Shauffele said. ‘Words are words. I would say in my book that he has a long way to go.
“He might be the right person, but he still has a long way to go to earn the members’ trust.” I’m sure he has the trust of the board as they were with him making those decisions, but for me personally he has a long way to go.’