Tour veteran Phil Mickelson doesn’t see a future with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the helm of the golfing body.
The 31 December deadline for the framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf is fast approaching and while Mickelson supports the merger, he can’t see a scenario where Monahan emerges unscathed.
Monahan turned heads months ago when he announced a merger with the near-bottomless pit of money that is the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia. But in doing so, he drew the ire of players on both sides of the widening rift.
Reflecting on an opinion piece by golf commentator Bob Ball suggesting Monahan won’t keep his job, Mickelson agreed.
“Well said,” he replied to the post on X on Wednesday.
“In addition to strong-arming LIV players, losing trust with his players, and all credibility with his staff, golf is in this situation entirely because of him. There’s no unity or path forward with him involved in my opinion as well.”
The six-time major winner went on to reveal he is looking forward to a more aligned golf calendar that features the best of the best more often.
“In my 30+ years we never had any tournaments where all the best players played against each other outside the four majors and Players,” he continued.
“Now with elevated events every single top Tour player must compete. When both tours come together, every top player in the world will compete against each other many times a year. Both scenarios are better for the fans and sponsors than how it was before.”
Meanwhile, after a prolonged silence on the merger, Tiger Woods admitted that he was frustrated to be left out of the PGA Tour’s decision.
“I was very surprised the process was what it was and we were very frustrated at what happened,” said Woods on Wednesday, as per Fox Sports.
“We took steps going forward to ensure players were not going to be left out of the process like we were. Part of that was putting me onto the board and accepting that position.
“We can’t let that happen again.”
