PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan Outlines Next Steps for Agreement with DP World Tour, PIF in Player Memo

In his first official communication with players since returning from a health-induced absence on July 17, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan offered more information on the tour’s framework agreement with the DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF).

In the memo, which was obtained Thursday by The Athletic's Brendan Quinn, Monahan said negotiations to finalize the agreement are “complicated and time intensive”. The agreement was announced on June 6 and marked an end to a multi-year civil war in golf.

Monahan, 53, took a leave of absence on June 13, a week after the framework agreement was announced. In the memo, he said “I have fully recovered. And feel stronger than ever.”

Monahan said Patrick Cantlay and Webb Simpson — two of the five players (the others being Rory McIlroy, Peter Malnati and Charley Hoffman) on the Tour's Policy Board — would form a search committee for former board member Randall Stephenson’s replacement alongside board members Mark Flaherty and Mary Meeker. In the wake of the framework agreement’s announcement, Stephenson announced his resignation from the Policy Board on July 9.

Upon his resignation, Stephenson, the former executive chairman of AT&T Inc., said the agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF “is not one that I can objectively evaluate or in good conscience support, particularly in light of the U.S. intelligence report concerning Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.”

Khashoggi, the late Washington Post columnist, was killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey. A U.S. intelligence report found Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman responsible for ordering the capture or killing of Khashoggi.

Additionally, Monahan announced the creation of a task force to determine how LIV Golf players are integrated back into the PGA Tour. The task force includes Chief Tournaments & Communications Officer Andy Pazder, Executive Vice President, Office of Social Responsibility and Inclusion Neera Sheety and the newly promoted Jason Gore.

Those LIV players include Phil Mickelson, Bryson DeChambeau, Talor Gooch, Abraham Ancer, Ian Poulter, Pat Perez, Hudson Swafford, Matt Jones, Jason Kokrak, Peter Uihlein and Carlos Ortiz, who were part of a lawsuit filed last year against the PGA Tour after the tour suspended all players who bolted for LIV Golf.

All 11 players have since withdrawn their names from the suit.

Reintegrating former tour members into the fold is one thing. But what about those who stayed behind? Monahan said a “financially significant” player benefit program would be formed, which would be additive to the current player compensation package. Pazder, Gore and Chief Financial Officer Jay Madara are heading the team running analyses to determine how tour members would benefit from such a program.

Monahan also announced that Colin Neville, a partner at private equity firm Raine Group, had been retained as a third-party resource for the five players on the Policy Board. In addition, he announced that Gore had been promoted from Executive Vice President and Player Advisor to the Commissioner to Executive Vice President and Chief Player Officer.

Gore has received praise from players for his communication and outreach skills during his time as Managing Director, Player Relations for the United States Golf Association (USGA).

The majority of the memo was concerned with next steps regarding the framework agreement, but there were some crucial miscellaneous announcements. The memo said the 2024 PGA Tour schedule would be revealed during a player meeting on Aug. 8, in Memphis, Tenn., the week of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

The tour is returning to a calendar-year schedule for the first time since 2013.

Monahan also announced that the tour would not support the new Model Local Rule, proposed by the USGA in March to combat distance at the professional level. “Although there has been some level of support for limiting future increases, there is widespread and significant belief the proposed Modified Local Rule is not warranted and is not in the best interest of the game,” Monahan said.

The penultimate event of the tour’s regular season, the 3M Open in Blaine, Minn., started Thursday. Monahan said he will be on site for next week’s Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, N.C. and told players he’s “happy to meet with any of you individually.”