“The perception was that I was running away from a fight”: Jay Monahan reflects on his medical leave earlier this year amid PGA x LIV deal
PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan had been the center of attraction in the entire golf fraternity after he came out with PIF (the financial backers of LIV Golf) Chief Yasir Al-Rumayyan and announced the merger deal on June 6.
Before Tiger Woods hosted the 2023 Hero World Challenge, Monahan was in an interview with The New York Times. He said that it was painful for him to see people viewing him as running from a fight. He added that everyone who has known him would say that he was always the first person to "run into a fight".
As quoted by Golf Monthly, he said,
"I knew I'm the first person to run into a fight. Anybody that knows me will tell you that. And I knew the perception was that I was running away from a fight. And that was excruciating. That hurt me to my core."
Jay Monahan further explained their goals through the conversation with the PIF. He said that he would be meeting Yasir Al-Rumayyan in the upcoming week and would continue to advance their conversations.
"The deadline for our conversations with PIF, as you know, is a firm target. I'll be with Yasir next week. And we continue to advance our conversations. And I think it's pretty well known that there's a large number of other interested parties that we're also pushing to think about."
"The athletes are owners in their sport " - Jay Monahan assures positive outcomes from the PGA Tour-PIF deal
The merger deal framework is expected to be finalized by the end of December 2023. While there had been multiple speculations that the deal would not go on the floor, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan claimed that if the deal was finalized, the Tour would be in a certain position where the athletes would become the owners.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Monahan said that PIF (financial backers of LIV Golf) was not the only investor in the deal. There would be many more co-investors who had "significant experience in business." He assured that it would take the "PGA Tour to another level ". He was quoted by Golf Monthly as saying,
"When this gets finalized, the PGA Tour is going to be in a position that I talked about earlier, where again, the athletes are owners in their sport, and you've got not only the PIF, but you've likely got another co-investor, with significant experience in business, in sport and brand that's going to help take the PGA Tour to another level and help us take share from other sports and even be more competitive."
Jay Monahan also spoke about not being able to sleep after the PGA Tour-PIF merger deal was announced. He also said that it has affected his mental and physical health.