Jay Monahan returned to his role as PGA Tour commissioner on July 17 after taking over a month away from his duties in a medical situation
Jay Monahan said anxiety caused him to temporarily leave his role as PGA Tour commissioner.
The 53-year-old stepped down barely a week after announcing an agreement with the Public Investment Fund – a move that led to him being fiercely criticised by some players.
It wasn’t certain Monahan would return and he described himself as “a work in progress” to reporters at the FedEx St Jude Championship.
“Anxiety affects everybody differently, and it had been affecting me,” he said. “I realised the position I was in said this is the right time to take care of myself. I’m a work in progress.
“I realised that I need to step away and deal with that and develop the skills to deal with that going forward.
“Ultimately, you can’t wait when you’re in a situation like that, and I needed to deal with it. I needed to deal with it for my family and for myself. That was a very hard thing for me.”
Monahan met with players this week for the first time since returning to the tour in the middle of last month, but it has been reported that less than half of the 70 players in the field attended.
The tour’s membership wasn’t included in negotiations with the PIF to form the groundbreaking agreement that stunned the game on June 6.
Monahan and the tour were called “Saudi shills” by 9/11 Families United after forming an alliance with the PIF – the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia and chief investor in LIV Golf.
What else did Jay Monahan say?
Rory McIlroy compared himself to “a sacrificial lamb” when the tour’s deal with LIV’s backers was made public, while also calling Monahan’s actions “hypocritical.”
As well as revealing his health status, Monahan apologised for the handling of the announcement and described it as “ineffective.”
“There was a lot of misinformation,” he added. “I think anytime you have misinformation that can lead to mistrust, and that’s my responsibility.
“It’s nobody else’s responsibility – that’s me and me alone. As I’ve said, I take full accountability for that.
“At the same time, I apologise for putting players on their back foot, but ultimately the move that we made is the right move for the PGA Tour. I firmly believe that. And as we go forward, time will bear that out.”
As part of the deal, the PIF will make a capital investment in what’s currently known as NewCo, but the tour retain decision-making authority on matters relating to competitions.
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