Tour veteran Phil Mickelson believes there is no future with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the helm of the golf association.
The Dec. 31 deadline for a framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf approaches, and while Mickelson supports the merger, he can’t imagine a scenario in which Monaghan emerges unscathed.
Monaghan caused a stir a few months ago when he announced a merger with Saudi Arabia’s nearly bottomless public investment fund. But in doing so, he drew the ire of players on both sides of the ever-widening rift.
Mickelson reviewed and agreed with an opinion piece by golf commentator Bob Ball that suggested Monaghan would not keep his job.
“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. In my opinion, when he’s involved, there’s no unity, there’s no path forward.”
The six-time major champion went on to say that the best players are playing more often and are more coordinated.
He revealed that he is looking forward to the golf calendar.
“In my 30-plus years, there has never been a tournament where the best players and players outside of the four majors competed against each other,” he continued.
“Now with elevated events every single top Tour players compete.” When both tours come together, all of the world’s top players will compete multiple times a year. Both scenarios would be better for fans and sponsors than 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.
According to FOX Sports. “I’m very surprised by how the process went and I’m very frustrated by what happened,” Woods said on Wednesday.
“We have taken steps to ensure that players are not excluded from the process.” Part of that was getting me on the board and accepting the position.
“This will never happen again.”