5 big takeaways from PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan’s The Players presser ft. LIV deal hold-up

On Tuesday, March 11, PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan held the annual presser ahead of the Players Championship. During the press conference, he spoke about various queries regarding meetings with Donald Trump, LIV Golf, and slow play

In this article, we will look at five takeaways from Jay Monahan's Players Championship press conference.

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5 major takeaways from Jay Monahan's press conference

1) Donald Trump's role in the PGA Tour-LIV Golf deal

In his press conference, Monahan heaped praise on Donald Trump amid recent talks with him in the White House. He said that the President was willing to serve as a 'facilitator' for the deal.

"President Trump is a lifelong golf fan," he said. "He believes strongly in the game's power and potential, and he has been exceedingly generous with his time and influence to help bring a deal together."

He added that Trump wanted the unification of the game, and his involvement had greatly helped to move the prospect of reunification in a positive direction.

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2) Action on the slow pace of play

Speaking on slow play, Jay Monahan said they were committed to tackling this issue and were taking a few steps to improve the situation. He said:

"I'm excited to formally announce these recommendations from our player-led speed-of-play working group: We will begin publishing speed-of-play-related statistics later this season.

"We will also begin testing a new speed-of-play policy on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour Americas, beginning next month on April 14th specifically, which will include assessing penalty strokes for slow play."

He added that they would test range finders at six events between the Masters and the PGA Championship.

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3) Taking elements from LIV Golf in the future

Jay Monahan was also asked if the PGA Tour would take certain elements from LIV Golf and if this was one of the potential 'hold-ups' of the deal. The PGA Tour Chief initially said he didn't have anything new to offer in the negotiations but later added that he wouldn't compromise the Tour's strength.

"We're not going to do anything that diminishes the strength of our platform or that momentum that we have with our fans and partners. And then importantly, we're going to continue to take aggressive action with everything that we control to make certain that we're doing everything in our power to present and evolve the best version of our Tour."

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4) Fan Forward

Jay Monahan also spoke about taking note of fans' grievances and announced the launch of the Fan Forward website. He shared that, as per Fan Forward, there were several areas of development.

"Deliver more golf per minute, maximize the drama on every single hole, help our fans to get to know our players even better, and give every event unique purpose and context," he added. "So we've organized our team and our efforts around these themes, and we're focused on the actions we need to take to deliver for our fans."

He later encouraged fans to visit the Fan Forward website to learn more about ongoing developments on the PGA Tour.

"I encourage fans to visit, learn more, and get involved. Fan Forward will be an ongoing priority," he said.

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5) On Commercial Format

Jay Monahan was also asked whether the PGA Tour was considering changing the commercial format.

"I think that we're, as I said earlier, blessed to have the great media partners and network partners we have and the broad commercial support that we receive," he replied. "Commercial inventory is one element of the value that our partners generate through our partnership with the PGA Tour."

He added that the PGA Tour would do everything to improve the fan experience, but brands were also an important part of the Tour, and the sponsors were also considering other ways of marketing. He didn't clarify if the PGA Tour would make any changes to the format in the future.