PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan recovering from medical situation

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is recovering from a “medical situation,” according to a statement issued Tuesday evening by Monahan and the PGA Tour Policy Board.

The statement, which offered no specifics about the nature of Monahan’s condition, said: “The Board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy. During Jay’s absence, Ron Price, Chief Operating Officer, and Tyler Dennis, Executive Vice President & President, PGA TOUR, will lead the day-to-day operations of the PGA TOUR with the assistance of the great team Jay has built, ensuring seamless continuity.”

The Tour said it would provide updates “as appropriate.”

Over the past two years, Monahan, 53, has been one of the key figures at the center of a tumultuous period in professional golf, during which he has steered the Tour through a power struggle and heated legal clashes with LIV Golf.

Last week, after announcing a surprising deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, which backs LIV, Monahan faced his players in what he described as an “intense” and “heated” meeting at the Canadian Open. His charge: explain to his membership why after months of bitter fighting with LIV, the time was right to partner with the league’s investors.  

“I’m glad I wasn’t Jay today,” former U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy told reporters after the meeting. “There’s some grumpy players in there.” 

Monahan has also fielded pointed criticism from 9/11 support groups in recent days for backpeddling on the hard moral stance he took against the Saudi-funded operation.

“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan told the media ahead of the tournament. “Anytime I said anything, I said it with the information that I had at that moment, and I said it based on someone that’s trying to compete for the PGA Tour and our players.”

Monahan became commissioner of the Tour in 2017. Before that, he served, among other roles in the organization, as deputy commissioner and chief operating officer.

When contacted by GOLF.com, the Tour said it had no further comment on Monahan’s condition.

This story will be updated as more information becomes available.

Alan Bastable

Golf.com Editor

As GOLF.com’s executive editor, Bastable is responsible for the editorial direction and voice of one of the game’s most respected and highly trafficked news and service sites. He wears many hats — editing, writing, ideating, developing, daydreaming of one day breaking 80 — and feels privileged to work with such an insanely talented and hardworking group of writers, editors and producers. Before grabbing the reins at GOLF.com, he was the features editor at GOLF Magazine. A graduate of the University of Richmond and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives in New Jersey with his wife and foursome of kids.

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