PGA Tour superstar Rory McIlroy and other PGA Tour players sent a very strong and embarrassing message to Commissioner Jay Monahan this week about their displeasure with how he handled their battle and impending merger with LIV Golf.
As the 2023 PGA Tour season nears a close, one of the biggest stories in the game still remains to be the planned merger between the Tour and bitter rivals LIV Golf. While the move is supposed to end the divisiveness that had grown in the sport, the deal has created major problems inside the PGA.
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Many top players trusted Commissioner Jay Monahan and stayed loyal to the PGA during their battle with LIV and passed on huge paydays from the Saudi Arabia-backed league. Now after the merger, their counterparts with LIV will have an opportunity to return to the PGA, and with far bigger sums of cash in their bank accounts.
One player that led the charge to stay loyal and has been publicly frustrated with the new landscape of the sport is golf star, Rory McIlroy. Staying faithful to the Tour did not pay off for the No. 2 player in our World Golf Rankings and he continues to make his dissatisfaction with the impending merger known. Doing so again during a player’s meeting this week.
Rory McIlroy showed up to major PGA Tour meeting just minutes before it ended
On Tuesday, ahead of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Monahan met with players to give new information on the merger, because shockingly little has been revealed to PGA Tour members thus far. The Associated Press revealed that the commissioner did not offer much new information, and it didn’t seem to matter because “the meeting was lacking in attendance, with only 25 players attending in the clubhouse at the TPC Southwind.”
In a notable sign of disrespect, Rory McIlroy reportedly showed up to the meeting a few minutes before it ended in a sweat-soaked shirt. Clearly sending the message that it wasn’t worth remembering or that his workout was more important than a meeting with the commissioner about a major union of the sport’s top leagues.
After the news of the merger, many players around the PGA reportedly wanted Monahan to be removed from his role, however, he is expected to be a key part of the board for the company that will be overseeing the leagues.