PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan reveals what caused absence after LIV Golf deal

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has revealed 'anxiety' caused him to step away from his role temporarily after announcing the LIV Golf merger.

Ben Smith

10 Aug 2023

PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan reveals what caused absence after LIV Golf deal

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan has admitted 'anxiety' induced his medical leave in the immediate aftermath of announcing an about-face management policy on 6 June by partnering with LIV Golf's Saudi backers.

Monahan, 53, met with a pool of reporters on 9 August ahead of the first leg of the 2023 FedEx Cup playoffs.

It was shortly after he chaired a meeting that, according to reports, wasn't well attended.

Although Rory McIlroy did eventually turn up.

As for Monahan, the under fire commish stated that he had massive regrets over how the LIV Golf announcement was handled.

If he had his time over, he said, he would've flown to the Canadian Open and met with the players beforehand.

Documents released as part of the US Senate's probe into the agreement show that Monahan had planned to call both Tiger Woods and McIlroy ahead of the announcement.

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Woods has now joined the PGA Tour's policy board. "Woods doesn't do anything lightly," Monahan said, although he did concede this was a position the big cat has held unofficially for some time.

Monahan said of his health issues:

"I think the reality for me was that I was dealing with anxiety, which created physical and mental health issues and challenges for me. I realized that, as I said earlier, I needed to step away and to deal with that and understand how to develop the skills to deal with that going forward.

"I knew that we have a great team in place, and I knew that I had — ultimately, you can't wait when you’re in a situation like that, and I needed to deal with it, and I needed to deal with it for my family, as I said, for myself, and ultimately to be as strong as I can possibly be for the players.

"That was a very hard thing for me, and for the reasons I said earlier, but I’m really proud of the fact and I’m grateful for the fact that I was able to do that, and for me, it's very personal, and I think it is for anybody, and in being personal, I recognize that people deal with far worse problems and challenges in their lives, and I realize that — I'm not looking for — all I was trying to do was get myself back to a place where I was ready to do exactly what I'm doing right now. But I'm proud of myself for doing that."

Monahan also told members of the media that should their negotiations with the Saudi PIF over the 'framework agreement' not be successful then 'we'll cross that bridge when we come to it'.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF have until the end of the year to finalise the arrangement.

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