Rory McIlroy wants answers; Jay Monahan doesn’t have them

LA JOLLA, Calif. — It’s a miserable day at Torrey Pines, with the temperature barely eclipsing 50 degrees and a disgusting mist that would force most golfers indoors. Throw in a howling gust off the Pacific Ocean, and you have a “lovely” day on the links, as Rory McIlroy jokingly called it after finishing his morning Pro-Am.

But this ‘Atmospheric River’ is the perfect metaphor for the current state of professional golf: dark, gloomy, and unforgiving.

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf continue to operate independently despite the tour’s ongoing negotiations with the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), LIV’s beneficiary. Progress appears to have been made, with President Donald Trump meeting Commissioner Jay Monahan and Player Director Adam Scott just last week. Yet, details of that “productive” encounter, and how things will look a year or two from now remain under wraps.

“I don’t think you’re ever close until you’re finalized,” Monahan told reporters Wednesday.

“I would say this: Everything is moving forward with pace, and I think there’s a general — when you look at all the parties involved, there’s a general enthusiasm for getting this [deal] done.”

McIlroy, meanwhile, believes things should not be that complex.

“From my viewpoint, I don’t think it’s complicated at all,” McIlroy said.

The four-time major champion, who once spearheaded the PGA Tour’s crusade against LIV, believes that anyone who went to LIV and still has status on the PGA Tour should come back and play. He even cited the return of Bryson DeChambeau, the man who beat him in the U.S. Open, as someone who would help the PGA Tour’s product overall.

“I think everyone’s just got to get over it, and we all have to say, ‘OK, this is the starting point, and we move forward. We don’t look behind us. We don’t look to the past.’ Whatever’s happened has happened, and it’s been unfortunate, but reunification, how we all come back together and move forward, is the best thing for everyone,” McIlroy added.

“If people are butt hurt or have their feelings hurt because guys went or whatever, like, who cares? Let’s move forward together, and let’s just try to get this thing going again and do what’s best for the game.”

Monahan echoed this sentiment, although, once again, he did not provide concrete answers.

“When you talk about reunification, that’s all the best players in the world competing with each other and against each other,” Monahan said.

“The details of which we’ll be talking about at a future date.”

The only tidbit Monahan provided is that, under his vision, the top players would compete side-by-side in more than four events per year — a reference to the current situation at the four major championships.

“We all get together at the major championships, and that’s been a really good thing, but for both tours, it’s unsustainable,” McIlroy pressed.

“It’s unsustainable.”

It’s no secret that McIlroy has come around to the idea of a global world tour that incorporates LIV Golf, a circuit he has said he hates.

“I was opposed to a lot of it. I was opposed to 54 holes, I was opposed to the team concept in some way, but when you remove yourself from it a little bit and you look at the overall picture, like we’ve all done better because of this,” McIlroy said.

“The players on the PGA Tour had more leverage than they ever had to go to the Tour to say we want this, we want that or whatever. But at the same time, I regret some of those decisions too because it put the Tour in a place where they were stretched financially, and they had to look at taking money from elsewhere to try to compete. But like it’s all easy in hindsight, it’s all very easy in hindsight to say these things, but I think we are closer to getting a resolution, and hopefully, we can all just move forward.”

Speaking of those alternative resources, this month marks an important anniversary. One year ago, at Pebble Beach, the PGA Tour announced it had received a $1.5 billion investment from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG), a consortium of sports owners and billionaires. SSG would help create an equity program for top players while supporting tournament purses, among other matters.

But McIlroy wants answers about that too.

“What are we going to do with the one and a half billion? What are we going to invest in?” McIlroy asked.

“How are we going to get this thing to grow?”

When pressed about the matter, McIlroy provided no answers — not out of spite or because he wanted to keep things close to the chest, but because he had been kept out of the loop. McIlroy resigned from the PGA Tour Policy Board in November 2023.

Meanwhile, Monahan, similar to his comments about the ongoing discussions with the PIF, did not extrapolate.

“I’m not in a position to share any of those details,” Monahan said regarding the SS.G’s investment.

“What I will tell you is structurally, we’ve put together an investment committee that includes many members of the SSG team, and we’re actively looking at deals that are going to make the PGA Tour stronger and deals that are complementary to our business. Suffice to say, I think there will be some news on that front in the coming months.”

Golf fans have heard that verbiage for a long time now about multiple topics. Like McIlroy, fans want answers, too, but Monahan still does not have them. Maybe that changes soon; then again, who knows? McIlroy sure doesn’t.

Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Follow him on X @jack_milko.