Xander Schauffele admits trust in PGA Tour boss Jay Monahan damaged after LIV deal
- Planet Sport writer
- 13 July 2023
The American feels Monahan has "a lot of tough questions to answer" now that he's back on the job.
Xander Schauffele admits PGA Tour players have lost a lot of trust in commissioner Jay Monahan after he secretly negotiated the proposed deal between golf's rival factions.
The shock announcement that the PGA Tour and DP World Tour plan to merge their commercial operations with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls the breakaway LIV Golf League, was made on June 6.
A week later, Monahan stepped away from his role to recuperate from an unspecified "medical situation" and he will return to work on Monday facing plenty of questions from players who remain in the dark about what the future holds.
Asked ahead of his title defence in the Genesis Scottish Open if his levels of trust in Monahan had changed, Schauffele said: "Yes. Yes, they have."
Pressed to elaborate, the Olympic champion added: "If you want to call it one of the rockier times on Tour, the guy was supposed to be there for us, (but) wasn't.
"Obviously he had some health issues. I'm glad that he said he's feeling much better. But yeah, I'd say he has a lot of tough questions to answer on his return.
"I don't trust people easily. He had my trust and he has a lot less of it now.
"I don't stand alone when I say that. Yeah, he'll just have to answer our questions when he comes back."
Monahan conceded he would be labelled a hypocrite for negotiating the deal after previously deriding LIV as a "series of exhibition matches" and banning PGA Tour players who joined the breakaway circuit.
He has also been accused of becoming a "Saudi shill" by a group representing families of those killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks and faced calls to resign at a heated players meeting immediately after the deal was announced.
Jordan Spieth echoed Schauffele's sentiments regarding a loss of trust in Monahan, while world number one Scottie Scheffler expressed concern at the lack of detail on the proposed deal, even after two PGA Tour officials gave evidence to a Senate subcommittee in Washington DC on Tuesday.
"I just think that yesterday we didn't really learn a whole lot again," Scheffler said. "As a player on Tour, we still don't really have a lot of clarity as to what's going on and that's a bit worrisome.
"They keep saying it's a player-run organisation and we don't really have the information that we need. I watched part of yesterday and didn't learn anything so I really don't know what to say.
"It's just a framework agreement right now so I don't know what that entails. We are not involved in any of the discussions. None of the players were involved in the original framework agreement."
Scheffler does not feel he should have personally been involved in the process, but that the five players who sit on the PGA Tour's policy board - Rory McIlroy, Patrick Cantlay, Charley Hoffman, Webb Simpson and Peter Malnati - certainly should have been.
"We are the ones that voted to put them in that position to be there and we want their voices to be heard, and that was really the only frustration with the original announcement is that none of those four or five guys were involved at all," Scheffler added.
"But as far as how things are going now, there's open lines of communication. We have had numerous discussions with the Tour officials and players as weeks have gone on with stuff, and I feel like we're going in the right direction.
"I love playing golf on the PGA Tour and I'm hoping that's going to exist for a long time. I felt like we were doing a good job before and then the agreement happened and now we have to navigate the whole deal."
