The speech of Jay Monahan, the general commissioner of the PGA Tour, Tuesday at a press conference before the Players Championship, was eagerly awaited. As expected, he touched on the main topics that have been shaking the world of golf for several months, but without ever pronouncing the term LIV Golf.
Jay Monahan, statements
In his statement prior to the question and answer session, Jay Monahan made a point of mentioning Tuesday, at a Players Championship press conference, the memory of John Paramor, former chief referee of the DP World Tour, who died recently: “It was a giant of our sport and he has worked closely with our team on numerous editions of the Players Championship. We are thinking of his family and the whole golf family he was a part of,” said Monahan.
To justify the current and future developments, the Commissioner of the PGA Tour attacked very strongly from the start, with some significant figures: “What percentage of players from the top 10, top 20, top 30 in the world find themselves in a Major? More than 95%. And how much on average in a PGA Tour tournament? Less than 40%. I repeat: less than 40%. »
Obviously, everything has already started to change in 2023, with the “boosted” tournaments. The fields were very high at the start of the year, with almost the entire world’s elite at the Phoenix Open, the Genesis Invitational and the Arnold Palmer Invitational last week, three tournaments with $20 million in prize money. With the bonus of a permanent fight for the throne of world number 1 between Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Jon Rahm.
Another strong argument, already mentioned a few hours earlier by Rory McIlroy, at the same podium: “I don’t know if you know it, but the PGA Tour has always had tournaments with a limited field of players, without a cut. Jack Nicklaus has won 17 times in this format, Arnold Palmer 23 times and Tiger Woods 26 times. And the format in no way diminishes the value of their victories. »
Fans are going to love seeing the best players compete more often, still being there on weekends
Aware of the lack of enthusiasm caused by this decision among the fans, Jay Monahan is convinced that the passionate golfers that they will appreciate “to see the best players competing against each other more often, while still being there on weekends. end. »
According to him, “there will always be so many cuts”, one way or another, especially in the final sequence of the FedEx Cup, with eliminated at the end of each stage and only one champion at the end..
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