PGA Tour pro on Jay Monahan: "If his condition isn't improving, we need to know"

Peter Malnati has urged under fire commissioner Jay Monahan to let the membership know if he can return to work soon amid the PGA Tour's deal with LIV Golf.

Ben Smith

02 Jul 2023

PGA Tour pro on Jay Monahan: "If his condition isn't improving, we need to know" — PGA Tour pro on Jay Monahan: "If his condition isn't improving, we need to…

Peter Malnati has urged commissioner Jay Monahan to be open with PGA Tour players about his health because if his condition isn't improving 'we need to know'.

Malnati, who is one of five player directors, has given an extensive interview to Golfweek's Adam Schupak.

The golfer was in attendance at the mammoth five-hour meeting that took place in Detroit before the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

Rory McIlroy jetted in for the meeting despite not being in the field at Detroit Golf Club.

The topic of that gathering, of course, was to discuss the PGA Tour's 'framework agreement' with LIV Golf's Saudi backers.

Malnati told the publication that he didn't want the deal to happen because he didn't want to be associated with the Saudis

"It's still a hard pill to swallow," he said. But now he has changed his outlook.

During the interview Malnati claimed:

Long-term, he believes the deal is best for the PGA Tour
He believes there will be protections that PIF can only ever be a minority investor in the new golf entity
PGA Tour players feel a massive sense of betrayal, but Tour execs know they messed up
The Tour's day-to-day operations are running really well
Player loyalty will be rewarded, but it will be done creatively and not just through straight up cash
There have been conversations about rolling back some of the changes already made to the PGA Tour

| According to a report, one LIV Golf pro has already cast doubt on the PGA Tour/DP World Tour's agreement with Saudi Arabia's PIF.
"So what happens then?"
More at the link. pic.twitter.com/Fnv9XeyMZE
— GolfMagic (@GolfMagic) June 30, 2023

Malnati also expressed sympathy for the aforementioned Monahan, who stepped away from his day-to-day duties only a matter of days after the surprise agreement was announced due to an unspecified health issue.

Earlier in the week two PGA Tour execs confirmed they expect Monahan to return.

Malnati told the publication a statement needs to be made about his future soon. "So far, the only update we've got is that he is stable and improving," Malnati said.

"I don't even know what he's improving from, so I don't know what stable looks like. I know nothing. Stable and improving is what we hear. That's good."

He added:

"It is a paradigm-changing, biggest deal since the creation of the PGA Tour, what 55 years ago and nobody knew about it. Like, that's very frustrating.

"But Jay's health is a bigger deal than that. Jay has a wife and two daughters. Obviously, he has 200-plus PGA Tour members, Korn Ferry Tour members and others, a staff of 800 that all are relying on him, but he has a wife and two daughters that he's a husband and a dad to.

"Clearly, it doesn't look awesome that you do the most surprising, shocking, some people would say shady deal in the history of our sport, and then you're gone.

"But it's real life, like whatever he's struggling with is an actual real health issue. For the sake of his family, I hope that we're able to respect that but if his health isn't improving enough for him to come back and lead relatively soon, we also need to know.

"We need a strong leader at the Tour and we do have a very capable executive team but at some point, we're going to need a commissioner who is both skilled within the organization and public facing as well.

"And we have the team within the organization now to keep the wheels turning really successfully and leading us. But we need a commissioner."

Click here to read the entire interview

Malnati's comments come as:

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