Why was PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan called a ‘hypocrite’ in the players meeting after the surprise LIV Golf merger?
Jay Monahan is taking the heat for the recent shock waves that he sent through the golf world. The PGA Tour, the LIV Golf Series and the DP World Tour recently announced a surprise merger to create a larger golf entity.
The entity will be funded by the Saudi PIF and all members of the entity will be eligible to apply for membership to the PGA Tour in 2024.
However, both the tours appear to have kept this development under wraps for some time. None of the pro golfers for the 2023 season had any idea about the alliance and needless to say they were not happy when they did learn the news.
The golfers of the PGAT were particularly taken aback by the decision. The likes of Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and even LIV CEO Greg Norman were kept in the dark.
Asked a bunch of PGA Tour players: How will Jay Monahan survive this?
From one just now: "He won't. He can't."
At the players' meeting that took place after the announcement, Jay Monahan was prepared to face the fire. Speaking after the meeting, Monahan called it 'heated and intense'. According to Yahoo Sports, Geoff Ogilvy even said that a player called him a hypocrite during the meeting, and Monahan bore all the words silently.
Monahan acknowledged that he would be called a hypocrite, and said via Golf Magazine:
“I recognize everything I’ve said in the past in my past positions. I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite. Anytime I said anything I said it with the information I had in the moment.”
Jay Monahan called a hypocrite for taking LIV Golf's 'blood' money
A big reason for the hypocrisy label was that several of the players remained loyal to the PGA Tour despite being offered large sums of 'blood' money. Now, the same money will be used to fund this larger golf entity that the Tour will be a part of.
The families of the victims of the 9/11 attacks also called out Monahan and the PGA Tour. When he had condemned the LIV Golf Series last year, Jay Monahan had called the breakaway tour nothing but 'sportswashing'. However, his new deal with the LIV Tour has sparked rage amongst the families that he stood with a year ago.
Needless to say, Monahan is facing a lot of brutal criticism on social media. While a truce was to be expected within the two Tours, the shock of it having come so fast has not been easy to digest for players and fans alike.