Professional Golf Association Tour commissioner Jay Monahan expressed regret on Wednesday for keeping September 11 families and players in the dark about the bombshell merger with Saudi-backed LIV, before vowing that loyal PGA members would be rewarded.
Speaking on The Golf Channel a day after he revealed the agreement that shocked the golfing world, Monahan expressed regret for not informing 9/11 families of the deal before it broke, stating “any hypocrisy I have to own.”
“In allowing confidentiality to prevail, I did not communicate to very important constituents, including the families of 9/11, and I regret that. I really do,” Monahan said.
“I feel like the move that we made and how we move forward is in the best interest of our sport. But for any difficulties I’ve caused on that front, I have to own that as well.”
The 9/11 Families United coalition’s chair, Terry Strada, said “PGA Tour leaders should be ashamed of their hypocrisy and greed. Our entire 9/11 community has been betrayed by Commissioner Monahan.”
‘In allowing confidentiality to prevail, I did not communicate to very important constituents, including the families of 9/11, and I regret that. I really do.’
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers in the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington were Saudi nationals.
Similar words came from PGA players in a meeting with Monahan on Tuesday at the Canadian Open, but Monahan defended himself by saying the end — huge Saudi investment in the PGA Tour and an end to golf’s civil war — justified the means.
“To be able to take someone that has been an aggressive competitor over the last two years, and to have that entity be a productive minority investor is very exciting,” Monahan said.
“The PGA Tour is in a control position with a productive investor. We’ve got a lot of flexibility in our business.”
“When anybody looks three, five, 10 years down the road, I firmly believe, I’m confident, that those results will be delivered.”
Monahan said that without the secrecy, the unification might not have happened.
“When you get into conversations like this there needs to be confidentiality,” Monahan said.
“If you start opening this up and asking opinions and sharing where this is going, ultimately it’s going to be very difficult for us to get to the result that we’ve gotten to.
“It was important I work alongside our board and pursue what we thought was best for the PGA Tour and maintain that confidentiality. If it hadn’t been that way I’m not certain we would have gotten to this result.”
