PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan returns to his job on Monday, July 17 after a medical leave of absence.
Monahan stepped away only days after announcing a merger between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf that shook pro golf to its core.
The decision to join LIV Golf, instead of fighting it, caused some players to shake their heads in disbelief. Others seemed to be in a full revolt after spending more than a year as rivals of the Saudi-funded tour.
Several golfers spoke out about trust issues with Monahan going forward.
Xander Schauffele said a split between the players and the Tour’s leadership was unavoidable.
“We got a memo that he’ll be back on the 17th,” Schauffele said on Wednesday at the Scottish Open, according to The Guardian. “If you want to call it one of the rockier times on tour, the guy was supposed to be there for us, wasn’t. Obviously, he had some health issues. I’m glad that he said he’s feeling much better. But I’d say he has a lot of tough questions to answer in his return.
“I don’t trust people easily. He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now. So I don’t stand alone when I say that. He’ll just have to answer our questions when he comes back,” he added.
Dallas’ Jordan Spieth said he did not watch any of Tuesday’s testimony before a U.S. Senate committee about the deal. Despite that, he said he knows the PGA Tour and Monahan have fences to mend, whether the deal goes through or not.
“Quite a bit, just based on conversations I’ve had with players. And I think he realizes that,” Spieth said, according to ESPN. “I’m sure he’s preparing for a plan to try and build it back.”
The Senate testimony revealed that Monahan and two PGA Tour board members negotiated the agreement, announced on June 6, with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
“As a player on tour, we still don’t really have a lot of clarity as to what’s going on, and that’s a bit worrisome,” Dallas’ Scottie Scheffler said. “They keep saying it’s a player-run organization, and we don’t really have the information that we need. I watched part of it yesterday and didn’t learn anything.”
