Commissioner Jay Monahan insisted on Tuesday that progress is made in PGA Tours communication with the Upstart Liv Circuit. It only comes with “ebbs and flows,” he said.
Monahan was also quick to praise President Trump for his commitment as a facilitator in the negotiations. Trump has hosted two white house meetings with Monahan, because of the Tour player manager Adam Scott and Saudia’s businessman Yasir al-Rumayyan.
These meetings have arrived almost two years after Monahan and al-Rumayyan, the governor of Saudi Arabia’s public investment fund (PIF), shocked the sports world by announcing a “framework agreement” to have the PGA tour, DP World Tour and Liv Golf Merge. The pages have not been able to move on to a final agreement.
“The conversations are real, they are significant and they are run at top levels for both organizations,” Monahan told reporters on Tuesday in advance for Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, FLA.
“These conversations have been significantly strengthened by President Trump’s desire to serve as a facilitator. President Trump is a lifelong golf. He strongly believes in the game’s power and potential, and he has been very generous with his time and influence to help lead a business.
“He wants to see the game reunited. We want to see the game reunited. His commitment has made the prospect of reunion very real.”
Monahan, 54, even had praise for al-Rumayyan.
“We can see a future where we welcome him to our board and work together to move the global game forward.” said Monahan, who added that “we believe there is room to integrate important aspects of life golf into the PGA Tour platform.”
Monahan, however, diverted several questions about golf is divided into two units.
“We are involved in these negotiations and to do everything we can to drive to reunion for our fans,” he said. “As I said, we will not do anything that reduces the strength of our platform or the momentum we have with our fans and partners.”
Another important topic on Tuesday was Pace of Play, with the PGA tour that would start publishing statistics related to the game’s speed later this year.
“It’s easy to identify the problem,” Monahan said. “It is a little harder to find the solution just in view of the depth and the width of everything that goes into play, but we are committed to finding the right solutions and making progress on that front.”
-Field level media
