PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan hints at ‘one tour’ after meeting with President Donald Trump

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan recently hinted at a 'one tour' structure in professional golf after a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Monahan and player director Adam Scott met with the President at the White House last week to discuss the tensions and potential merger between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV.

Recently, Monahan called the meeting with Trump "a very productive visit." In a press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, Monahan said (via Sports Illustrated):

"It was a very productive visit. I think you all have been around him enough to know how passionate he is about the game of golf."

PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which finances LIV Golf, announced in June 2023 about a merger between LIV Golf and PGA Tour. Initially, the merger deadline was set for the end of 2023; however, the deal hasn't gone through till now.

Monahan further said:

"For him to respond to our request to sit down and talk about how we achieve what he stated publicly as a goal, which is the game of golf operating under one tour with all the top players playing on that one tour, was a great opportunity. We had a really productive conversation."

In November 2024, Trump said that he'd execute the merger between LIV Golf and PGA Tour in "15 minutes". Monahan was further asked to clarify his remarks on one tour. He said:

"What it means is the reunification of the game, which is what we have been and are focused on. Candidly, that's what fans want. So when you talk about reunification, that's all the best players in the world competing with each other and against each other."

Monahan looked optimistic and said that meeting with Donald Trump brought them one step closer to finalizing a deal with LIV Golf. However, he acknowledged that significant work remained to be done.

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Rory McIlroy believes that President Donald Trump can help the PGA-LIV merger through Saudi leadership

In a pre-tournament press conference at the Genesis Invitational, Rory McIlroy revealed that he played golf with US President Donald Trump before the latter's inauguration. McIlroy said that Trump supports the PGA Tour in the ongoing dispute against LIV Golf.

McIlroy said (via The Times):

"So the president, he can do a lot of things. He has direct access to Yasir's boss (Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman). Not many people have that. Not many people can say, 'I want you to get this deal done and, by the way, I’m speaking to your boss, I'm going to tell him the same thing.'

For the uninitiated, Yasir Al-Rumayyan is the Chairman of LIV Golf and Governor of PIF that finances LIV Golf. Talking about the meeting with Trump, he said:

"It was great. Yeah, it was really good. I thought we had a good discussion. I learnt that he’s not a fan of the LIV format. I was like, 'But you’ve hosted their events?' He was like, 'Yeah, but it doesn’t mean that I like it.' So I think he’s on the Tour’s side."

McIlroy further said that whether players stayed on the PGA Tour or joined LIV Golf, everyone had benefited from the situation owing to the increase in prize funds. However, he underlined that reunification would be the best outcome for everyone in professional golf.