PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan snapped back at a reporter who pressed him on the defection of Jon Rahm to LIV Golf.
Monahan gave a rare press conference ahead of the Players Championship this week with the professional golf world still locked in chaos.
Saudi-backed breakaway league LIV Golf continues to poach players, including world no.3 Rahm, despite a framework agreement between the Public Investment Fund [PIF] and the PGA Tour in June 2023.
When pressed on whether more top players could follow Rahm and accept lucrative offers to join LIV Golf while negotiations drag on, Monahan skirted around the question.
He said: “I’m focused on every single member of the PGA Tour. I’m focused on the Players’ Championship this week. I’m focused on the great season that we have ahead.
“We’ve made tremendous progress with the SSG agreement that we have, putting ourselves in a position to invest back in our tour, invest back in our fans.
“I’m going to focus on the things I can control – and we are as an organisation, we are as a leadership team, and we are as a board.
“That’s what I’m focused on.”
Golfweek writer Adam Schupak then pressed Monahan to answer specifically about Rahm and the short-term future of elite players on the PGA Tour.
But the commissioner quickly shut down the follow-up question.
“I just answered your question about what my focus is,” Monahan said abruptly.
Little progress has been made towards a final deal to unify golf over the last eight months, although Monahan insisted talks with the PIF are now ‘accelerating’.
“I know you’re curious about the status of the negotiations with the PIF,” he said in his opening statement.
“As I said on a number of occasions, you can’t negotiate a deal like this in public, so I will be brief. I recently met with the governor of the PIF, and our negotiations are accelerating as we spent time together.
“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential.
“It’s going to take time but I reiterate what I said at the Tour Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA tour and the sport as a whole.”
Listen to live coverage of the Players Championship on talkSPORT 2 – starting at 8pm on Thursday!
News Summary:
- PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan awkwardly shuts down question about Jon Rahm and LIV Golf
- Check all news and articles from the latest Golf updates.