Jay Monahan Offers Underwhelming Update After Tiger Woods, Other PGA Tour Players Finally Meet With Saudi PIF

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, Tour player directors headlined by Tiger Woods, and Saudi Public Investment (PIF) governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan had a pow-wow in the Bahamas on Monday afternoon to discuss the PIF's presumed plan to invest in the PGA Tour. Based on the note Monahan shared with Tour players, it sounds like hands were shaken, (expensive) bread was broken, and that was about it.

Monahan and Al-Rumayyan sat next to one another and announced a framework agreement between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour, and Saudi PIF, which is the sole funder of LIV Golf, on June 6, 2023. All it took was 286 days to pass for Monahan and the Tour's player directors to sit down with Al-Rumayyan.

(Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)

In those 286 days, the PGA Tour pivoted, so to speak, when it announced a $3 billion investment deal with a consortium of American investors to create a new for-profit entity called PGA Tour Enterprises. The Tour has been adamant that there is still an open seat at the table for the PIF to invest its own figure of around $3 billion, but neither side is exactly chomping at the bit to get things across the line.

Jay Monihan Makes Vague Statement About The Meeting

It sounds like the waiting game will continue into the foreseeable future given that Monahan's only real update about Monday's meeting is that it was "constructive." That's it, well, that and Monahan has no interest in making any details public.

"The conversation throughout was constructive and represents an important part of our due diligence process in selecting potential investors for PGA Tour Enterprises," Monahan wrote in the letter. "This mirrors the approach we employed earlier this year as we evaluated an investment offer from the Strategic Sports Group. During the session, Yasir had a chance to introduce himself to our player directors and talk through his vision, priorities and motivations for investing in professional golf.

"As we continue these discussions with the PIF, we will keep you updated as much as possible, but please understand that we need to maintain our position of not conducting negotiations in public. To that end, we will provide no further comments to the media at this time."

Having a meeting instead of no meeting has to be seen as a step in the right direction.  It's the beginning to resolve the conflict in professional golf, but it appears many, many more meetings still need to take place for the dust to even begin to settle.

Some players, including Xander Schauffele, cast serious doubts in Monahan's direction as the right man for the job ahead of last week's Players Championship. It's safe to assume their opinions haven't changed after his quick trip to the Bahamas.