PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s Private Meeting With Players Was a ’S--- Show’

In a closed meeting at the RBC Canadian Open, players at one point stood and applauded when someone suggested a change in leadership.

Tuesday afternoon at the RBC Canadian Open, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan faced his constituency—the players—to try to explain the stunning merger with rival LIV Golf.

He had an uphill battle, to say the least.

"A s--- show," was how one major champion described the meeting upon leaving early.

“Oh it’s a shit-show”

One major champion who left the meeting early, just now.

— Adam Stanley (@adam_stanley) June 6, 2023

The news of the agreement dropped in the morning with no advance notice and few concrete details, leaving players with more questions than answers.

A year ago at the RBC Canadian Open, which was held opposite LIV Golf’s first event in London, Monahan appeared on CBS’s broadcast to go on the offensive, defending suspensions of players who left for the rival circuit and saying, ”How is this good for the game we love?”

Monahan didn't appear to satisfy a room full of players Tuesday who wanted explanations about how everything changed.

“It was a tough meeting for both sides,” Geoff Ogilvy said afterward. “He didn’t really talk specifics. ... Nobody really knows what this is going to look like in the end. We didn’t learn that much apart from there’s going to be an alliance, and the business structure’s going to change.

“There’s some grumpy players in there. Feel a little bit sort of ... not lied to, but that the Tour sort of changed its position kind of quickly. Maybe there’s a feeling of a little bit of a lack of trust in the leadership.”

When asked whether the word “hypocrite” was involved, Ogilvy said, "It was mentioned, yeah.”

Johnson Wagner, a Tour winner and current Golf Channel analyst, listened in to the meeting and estimated the room to be 90% negative. 

Johnson Wagner estimated the negative/positive split to be 90/10 in the player meeting.

Including a “standing ovation” when the room called for new TOUR leadership.

— Rick Gehman (@RickRunGood) June 6, 2023

He also said that there was a standing ovation in the room when someone suggested a change in leadership. “The most animated meeting in the history of the PGA Tour,” one player said to Golf Channel’s Amy Rogers.

I just spoke with a player who declined to speak on camera after the player meeting with Jay Monahan. The player described it as “probably the most animated meeting in the history of the PGA Tour.”

— Amy Rogers (@TheAmyRogers) June 6, 2023

There was perhaps one sentiment all the players could agree on.

“I’m glad I wasn’t Jay today,” Ogilvy said.