PGA Tour’s Jay Monahan ‘recuperating from a medical situation’

Golf

By Mark Cannizzaro

June 13, 2023 | 11:53pm

LOS ANGELES — A difficult time for Jay Monahan got ominously more complicated Tuesday.

The PGA Tour commissioner has been in the throes of a stressful couple of years with his battle against LIV Golf, which took a stunning turn last week when the tour joined with the Saudi-backed tour in a yet-to-be-determined alliance.

Tuesday, he informed the PGA Tour Policy Board that he’s “recuperating from a medical situation.’’

The PGA Tour issued this release on Tuesday night: “The Board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy.

“During Jay’s absence, Ron Price, Chief Operating Officer, and Tyler Dennis, Executive Vice President & President, PGA Tour, will lead the day-to-day operations of the PGA Tour with the assistance of the great team Jay has built, ensuring seamless continuity. We will provide further updates as appropriate.’’

This comes as Monahan, who’s been on the back foot since LIV Golf pushed its way into men’s professional golf and he saw it as a threat to his tour, sent a letter to members of Congress and called them out for lack of support against the Saudi entity.

In the letter he sent last week, which was obtained by Politico, he partially blamed Congress for the surprising agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund the PGA Tour made last week, claiming that the tour was left “on our own’’ in its fight against the rival Saudi tour and league that’s funded by the PIF.

The letter was dated June 9, three days after the announcement about a “framework agreement’’ made about the new alliance between the PGA Tour and LIV.

The new entity that came out of the alliance, which for now is being called “NewCo,’’ has Monahan as CEO with Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, the chairman of the board.

“Over the past two years, the PGA Tour has fought an intense and highly publicized battle as the Saudi Arabian PIF-backed LIV golf league attempted to ‘buy’ PGA Tour players and take over the game of golf in the United States and beyond, creating a fractured golf ecosystem and fomenting a heated divisiveness into the game,’’ Monahan wrote.

“We believe that we did everything we could possibly do to defend what we stand for, including spending tens of millions of dollars to defend ourselves from litigation instigated by LIV Golf — significant funds diverted away from our core mission to benefit our players and generate charity.’’

Monahan said he met with several members of Congress to discuss LIV’s entry into golf in the US and suggested ways that lawmakers could support the PGA Tour in its battle.

Those suggestions, Monahan intimated, were not taken by Congress.