'The Board Has to Change': Ernie Els Slams Jay Monahan for LIV Golf Deal

Els spoke at length to Sports Illustrated after his first round at the British Open and said “there’s no way" Jay Monahan would keep his job if Els and his contemporaries were still leading the Tour.

HOYLAKE, England — For more than 30 years, Ernie Els has traveled the world playing professional golf, a lifestyle he still maintains today as he competes for the seventh consecutive week at the British Open.

Like most associated with the game for so long, he wonders about its future in the wake of the year-long division that still presents more questions than answers following the June 6 announcement of a "framework agreement" between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

In an interview after he shot 75 on Thursday in the opening round of the Open at Royal Liverpool, Els—a 19-time winner on the PGA Tour who has won more than 70 times worldwide—expressed his concern about the deal and his displeasure with PGA Tour leadership.

"If this happened in my day, in my prime, there’s no way he’s around," said Els, referring to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “No way. And the board has to change. You do s--- like this. I’m sorry, it’s not right. Talk to us, tell us what you’re going to do, plan on negotiating. Don’t just go rogue as a member of the board and come back with a deal and think we’re all going to say yes? You’re affecting people’s lives. You’re affecting the professional game. It’s just so bad."

Led by PGA Tour policy board members Ed Herlihy and Jimmy Dunne, Monahan helped negotiate a deal in secret that ended the litigation between the PGA Tour and the LIV Golf League—which is funded by the PIF.

What came was a framework agreement that Jon Rahm described as "an agreement to have an agreement." Details are scarce. The PGA Tour would remain as is, but a new for-profit venture called NewCo or PGA Tour Enterprises would bring together the assets from the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and LIV Golf, with Monahan as CEO and Yasir Al-Rumayyan—governor of the PIF—as chairman of the board.

"I know Yasir, I know some of those Saudi guys," said Els, who has played in Saudi Arabia as well as other events in the Middle East numerous times over the years. “They love the game. But this (LIV) is circus golf. That’s not where I stand.

"Team golf doesn’t work. It works maybe in a two-month, three-month happy season. Get these guys together, get teams together and play around the world. But (then) play real golf.

"That’s what this thing is all about. That’s what I prided myself on. Like Tiger (Woods) and some of these guys. Playing that type of golf. Getting yourself into majors. And grinding.

"And for these guys (the PGA Tour leadership) to go out there and do what they did, just off the cuff, as a board member, do a deal, nobody knows. The commissioner is supposed to be the guy running our Tour. These board members make a deal or a so-called deal and with no input from the players. It's absolute shambles. I’m worried."

Jon Rahm came out in support of Monahan this week, saying he needs time to see this deal through. Other players, such as Xander Schauffele and Jordan Spieth, have said that Monahan needs to regain their trust.

Els, 53, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame who won four major championships including two Opens, understands the hard feelings.

He said he believes the Tour "should have had a chat from the get-go" with the PIF. He also said he understands fellow South Africans such as Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Branden Grace making the decision to play LIV Golf, although he’s disappointed they didn't ask his opinion.

"I would have just said you have to think about it," Els said.

Els explained that its not the source of the money that has him bothered so much as the direction of the game, no matter who is putting up the funds.

"Listen, they want to do a lot of things in Saudi," Els said. "They’ve got sport coming. Whatever you’ve seen in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Qatar, they’re doing it on a bigger scale than that. So they want to set all these things up. Formula 1, golf, tennis, boxing. All this stuff. They want to become bigger. And Yasir wants to be a head of that.

"Do we play ball with him? Does he come in at a different rate, maybe a smaller investment, see if they are the right partner? Not just come in and take over world golf. That's just ridiculous. Need to slow things down."

Asked about foreseeing a possible outcome, Els said: "I think they need to cut a deal. And Saudi comes in and invests in the Tour. They can bring a lot of money to the Tour. Hopefully all of that money flows down to people who got burned by this."

Els maintains that legacy and the direction of professional golf is at stake.

"I spent almost 30 years on Tour, playing against Tiger ... people don’t mention me but I was there, he needed somebody to beat," Els said. "There’s a lot of guys who did a lot for this Tour; they helped the Tour and helped build the game. Are you kidding me? And then this b-------."

Els added: "I think Yasir needs to come out and say what he’s thinking. He’s going to be chairman of this NewCo, chairman of the board. Whoever is the commissioner, whoever is left, they are going to be answering to him. I don’t know how the hell they can’t see that."

Nearly 30 years ago, Els was a rising superstar in the game. He had just won his first major championship at the 1994 U.S. Open played at Oakmont. Later that year, he received a call from Greg Norman, now the commissioner of LIV Golf who then was one of the game’s top players but also trying to start a rival league that would pay guarantees for big purses.

"I was 24 at the time," Els said. "He called me in Japan at the Dunlop Phoenix (tournament). He asked me 'are you coming?’ I said, 'I can’t do it. I want to play major golf.’ I was just starting out. I said no. And I probably would have done the same today.

"We all look like idiots now."