LIV and Let Die : Uncovering PGA Tour's Jay Monahan's $100,000,000 move countering Saudi investment threat and more

The new book from Alan Shipnuck, LIV and Let Die, uncovers a lot of interesting things about Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour x LIV Golf merger, and more. Monahan now has a softer stance towards PIF, LIV, and everything else involved and played a crucial role in the merger.

That appears to have been a shift in philosophy. Unsurprisingly, Monahan was critical of LIV when it first formed, and he took measures to try and keep PGA Tour players on the Tour. Shipnuck's book reveals how far he went to stave off LIV's ascension.

Shipnuck said about the early stages of LIV Golf:

"Throughout 2020 and ’21, the renegade Premier Golf League tried to forge a partnership with the European Tour, staked by a $500 million pledge from the Saudi Public Investment Fund. Recognizing the existential threat to his business, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan swooped in, investing $100 million in the European Tour and creating a “strategic alliance” to thwart the Saudis."

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, the governor of the PIF, and Majed Al-Sorour, the CEO of Golf Saudi, turned away and began looking for other ways to invest in the sport, making Monahan's attempt successful.

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Jay Monahan and the rise of LIV Golf

In the future, Al-Sorour grew frustrated with the inability to get anything going on that front, so he went straight to the commissioner. Al-Rumayyan was involved, but the letter didn't carry his name as he didn't want to be connected to a potential rejection.

Jay Monahan influenced the merger with LIV

The letter read:

"I am writing in my capacity as lead advisor of a new golf enterprise. I want to introduce you to our proposition and outline its value as a prospective partner of the PGA Tour. We are proposing an innovative league featuring twelve 'teams' of top talent competing head-to-head over 14 weeks, creating a new dimension for sports and stakeholders."

That is, more or less, what LIV Golf looks like today. That letter was dated in April of 2021, and LIV started up a little more than a year later. Jay Monahan largely ignored the letter, believing that it would be negative for his control over the sport, according to Shipnuck:

"He had been masterful in guiding the Tour through Covid, securing a game-changing TV deal, and thwarting the PGL. But the Saudis were proposing to fundamentally alter his business and force him to give up some control."

Ultimately, he is being forced to cede some control now. LIV started up and grew to massive heights. Now, it's a very popular league. With the merger, again helped by Monahan, he will lose some power to PIF and Al-Rumayyan.

LIV will also remain a tour in operation, which means there will be some form of competition between it and the PGA Tour. Golf is forever changed, and it seems as if Monahan is attempting to change with it. Regardless, according to Shipnuck, this appears to be a stark about face for the commissioner.