“He wants to see the game reunified,” Commissioner Jay Monahan credits Donald Trump for bolstering PGA Tour-PIF merger talks

Donald Trump has been highly involved in the merger talks between the PGA Tour and PIF after Jay Monahan and others asked for his help.

“He wants to see the game reunified,” Commissioner Jay Monahan credits Donald Trump for bolstering PGA Tour-PIF merger talks

Jay Monahan and Donald Trump (Image via Imago)

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan held his annual press conference before The Players Championship on Tuesday. The golf top boss spoke on the ongoing merger deal between the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund (PIF) of Saudi Arabia and credited Donald Trump for his intervention in this deal.

The tour and the PIF have been working to close out a deal since 2023. In June of that year, Monahan sat down with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan and announced a merger deal that would bring the players back and reunify the game.

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Since the release of a framework agreement, the two bodies have been trying to find ways to wrap up this deal. However, they have been unable to do that, which led to Monahan and PGA Tour player-directors Adam Scott and Tiger Woods to travel to the White House in Washington DC and speak with President Donald Trump and ask for his help.

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Following Trump’s intervention, there has been more discussion and meetings between the two parties. Monahan, who had previously expressed his gratitude towards the US President for his help, has once again lauded him.

In the press conference, the 54-year-old claimed that just like them, Trump wants to see the game being reunified.

The talks are real, they’re substantial, and they’re being driven at the top levels of both organizations. Those talks have been significantly bolstered by President Trump’s willingness to serve as a facilitator. He wants to see the game reunified. We want to see the game reunified… His involvement has made the prospect of reunification very real.

Jay Monahan said in The Players Championship press conference

Monahan also spoke on the aspects of LIV Golf. The top boss of the PGA Tour believes there is “room” to integrate some important aspects of them on the PGA Tour platform.

The world of golf was left divided in 2021 with the establishment of LIV Golf. Some of the biggest names of the PGA Tour jumped ship to sail with the 54-hole circuit on huge money contracts.

At the moment, players from the two tours compete against each other only during the major championships. Once the merger deal goes through, the stars are expected to play together once again under one tour.

PGA Tour to publicly name players for their slow pace-of-play during events

One of the biggest issues the PGA Tour is currently facing is the slow pace-of-play of the game. Several players have been caught taking their time to take shots and slowing down the game. To tackle this issue, the tour will now start publicly naming them.

Jay Monahan
Jay Monahan (Image via ESPN)

The pace-of-play become a major debate once again when Dottie Pepper ripped the players during the Farmers Insurance Open at the Torrey Pines course. Harry English, Andrew Novak, and Aldrich Potgieter, who were playing in the final group, took almost three hours to complete the first nine holes. It took them over 5 hours to wrap up the round.

The PGA Tour then announced that they were looking into this matter and would implement some fixes. During the press conference on Tuesday, Jay Monahan discussed this and informed that the tour will release player-related statistics. They will also test out new pace-of-play policy on the Korn Ferry Tour which could later make it’s way to the PGA Tour.

We will begin publishing speed-of-play related statistics later this season. We will also begin testing a new speed-of-play policy on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, beginning next month, which will include assessing penalty strokes for slow play.

Jay Monahan said in the press conference

Recently, golfer Aaron Rai came under the heat of the fans for his slow play. During the Mexico Open, the Englishmen found himself in contention for the title.

At the eighth hole in the final round, Rai found his ball around 15 feet away from the hole. He would then proceed to use the AimPoint method to determine the measure of the incline. After taking almost 2 minutes, he ended up missing the putt and recorded a bogey on this hole.

The AimPoint method which Rai used has also been a point of discussion lately. Former major champion, Lucas Glover had urged for the ban of this. Collin Morikawa, who is one of those golfers who uses this method, later came into the defense of this technique and threw a shade at Grover.