Tag: Jay Monahan

Amid coronavirus pandemic, golf’s majors are still on but don’t expect high fives

The coronavirus has not yet caused the cancellation of any PGA Tour event, even as a health order goes into effect in a major host city.

The coronavirus is increasingly impacting sporting events around the world, and with good reason. As the World Health Organization officially categorized the COVID-19 virus as a pandemic on March 11, concerns about the continued spread of the virus revolve around situations where crowds of people come together.

Like at professional sports competitions.

After giving his State of the PGA Tour address on Tuesday, Commissioner Jay Monahan was peppered with questions about precautions and cancellations. So far, no PGA Tour events have been canceled (or crowds limited) because of the virus.

Most pressing for the golf community, perhaps, is the PGA Championship. The season’s second major is scheduled to take place May 14-17 at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco. On Wednesday, however, San Francisco mayor London Breed announced that the county is issuing a public health order that would prevent groups of 1,000 or more people from assembling in one space. It’s an order explicitly designed to limit the spread of the virus.

According to the L.A. Times, there are 157 confirmed virus cases in California and the number is expected to grow well beyond that in the coming days.

While acknowledging that the moratorium on large gatherings is disruptive, Breed expressed the importance on cutting down on opportunities for the virus to spread.

“For the general public, reducing the opportunity for exposure to the virus is the top priority, and by canceling events, we are improving the odds,” Dr. Grant Colfax, Director of Health for San Francisco, said in a statement.

The PGA of America, however, issued a statement on Tuesday addressing reports that the PGA Championship could potentially be moved from Harding Park, saying that wasn’t accurate. In spite of the San Francisco health order, the PGA reiterated its points a day later.

“At this time, no such discussions have taken place,” the statement read. “We continue to carefully monitor this rapidly evolving situation, in close coordination and communication with representatives from San Francisco. We will follow the guidance of state and city officials and public health authorities, keeping the safety and well-being of all involved as our highest priority.”

Monahan echoed that on Tuesday in Ponte Vedra Beach, addressing a theory that the PGA might move to TPC Sawgrass, home of the PGA Tour’s headquarters.

“There is no plan at this point in time for the PGA Championship to be held here,” he told media. “It’s going to be held at TPC Harding Park. But I would just pledge to you, as we’ve pledged to everybody else, that in all of our tournaments week to week that we’ve got to — we’ve really got to listen and respond to the real information that we’re receiving on the ground.”

The Players Championship will go on as planned this week and while Augusta National Golf Club issued a statement last week that officials were working with health organizations to monitor the virus, so far the Masters (plus the Augusta National Women’s Amateur and the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals) remain on the calendar with no restrictions.

Many sporting events around the world – and now the country – are being postponed or outright canceled. This week, that has included an additional stop on the European Tour plus a women’s college golf tournament that was to be played in Mexico.

PGA Tour players are beginning to take notice of the potential threat, too.

Jon Rahm referenced his 85-year-old grandmother as well as family members who have respiratory diseases and might be at greater risk. That includes his wife Kelley who has asthma. He called it his duty to do everything he could to protect himself from contracting the virus.

“So this week, I love to fist pump and high five the kids, but it might be the one week where we don’t do it,” he said. “I love also to sign autographs, I might restrain from that a little bit, too. Not from being selfish reasons, I just feel like it might be the best thing for everybody.”

Rickie Fowler, often a fan favorite, was thinking the same thing about player-fan interaction. Even before the coronavirus outbreak, Fowler noticed that in his first years on Tour, high fives and fist bumps often led to illness.

“I’m more doing a wave or a thumbs up,” he said. “You just don’t know. I was already doing this before the coronavirus came up. I’m sure a lot of guys will be keeping their distance not because we’re trying to stay away from fans.

“Post-round it is a lot easier for me to control and sign and go into the locker room and wash my hands. Signing isn’t going to go away.”

Some sporting events have simply tried to eliminate the fan presence so contests can go on. It would certainly bring a different feel to the Tour.

When asked how surreal it would it be to play without any fans, Fowler said, “I’ve heard that was thrown around as a rare potential. It would go back to junior golf, amateur golf, some college golf days when it was only your family and friends out there. It would be a very different feel.”

Adam Schupak contributed reporting.

State of the PGA Tour is strong, as evidenced by growing purses and expanded coverage

As PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said in his State of the PGA Tour address, the business of the PGA Tour appears as healthy as ever.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The questions about coronavirus outnumbered those about the health of reigning Masters champion Tiger Woods by a six-to-one margin at PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s State of the PGA Tour press conference on Tuesday.

While several tournaments on the European Tour have been canceled, Monahan said the PGA Tour administers 175 tournaments over six tours and, with the exception of postponing the start of the PGA Tour China Series, the Tour says it is planning to stage all of its events at this time. The most pressing concern, at the moment, is the WGC-Dell Matchplay, which is scheduled to be held in Austin, Texas in two weeks. Despite the cancellation of SXSW, the annual music, film and interactive festival, Monahan said the golf tournament will go on as scheduled.

“We’re all in and making certain that we’re able to operate that event,” he said. “This thing is so dynamic that you just have to go hour-to-hour, day-to-day, but right now we have every assurance that we’ll be in Austin for the event.”

But Monahan said his staff is taking into consideration the well-being of fans, players and staff, and has assembled a team that is taking its cues from the World Health Organization and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

“It started out as a task force,” Monahan said. “It’s now essentially a business unit, where we have two leaders, Tom Hospel, our medical director, and Alison Keller, our chief administration officer, who have organized a large team to fully understand the coronavirus and its implications on all facets of our business.”

Other than the potential implications of the coronavirus, the business of the PGA Tour appears as healthy as ever.

“It’s clear to me we have a winning formula,” said Monahan, who noted the Tour has 18 tournaments under contract for seven or more years. “We’re growing in virtually every metric, and it’s not because the winning formula remains the same. We listen, and we respond.”

On Monday, the Tour announced a nine-year renewal with TV partners CBS and NBC/Golf Channel and established a new relationship with Disney and ESPN+. While the financial terms weren’t disclosed, Monahan said it will help the Tour secure $12 billion in revenue through 2030.

The purse for the Players jumped to $15 million this year, with the winner awarded $2.7 million on Sunday, and he predicted that when the new TV riches kick in, the purse of the Players would reach $25 million. The FedEx Cup, which has doubled from a season-long pot at the end of the rainbow of $35 million to $60 million as of last season (plus $10 million for the Wyndham Rewards Top 10), also will receive a turbo-charge.

“Perhaps $100 million or more,” Monahan said. “That’s not a commitment, but that’s, generally speaking, the kind of growth that I expect for us to see for our athletes.”

This week at the Players, every shot will be live-streamed on NBC Sports Gold to PGA Tour Live subscribers. That’s more than 32,000 shots over the course of the tournament, captured by more than 120 cameras positioned throughout the course. Making every shot available was first achieved by CBS Sports at the 2019 Masters, and it could be the future of golf coverage on TV.

“Our vision is to bring every shot and every PGA Tour tournament to our fans, and this is the first step in making that a reality,” Monahan said.

This week’s broadcast also will feature the first use of a drone-operated camera.

Gaming opportunities present a new frontier, and the Tour has invested heavily to develop its ShotLink technology, which captures real-time data on every shot hit in competition so that it can be used in its various media platforms and engage fans in new ways as legalized betting becomes a reality.

Monahan answered several questions about the Premier Golf League, which has surfaced as a potential rival, and said that the Tour would protect its turf.

“We have regulations in place that allow us to protect the interests of our media partners, our sponsors and all our constituents, and if we got to the point in time, we would take measures to vigilantly protect this business model,” he said.

But Monahan downplayed the possibility that an upstart league would be able to make any inroads in the already crowded space that is professional golf.

“We’re about to get a lot stronger,” he said.

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19th hole: Premier Golf League is big on promises, short on substance

To become viable, the PGL needs commitments from young stars such as Rory McIlroy, who’s not ready to give up his personal autonomy.

As cris de coeur go, Premier Golf League’s opening salvo sounded less passionate than petulant. The proposed rival circuit to the PGA Tour sent its first tweet on Friday, one that included an audacious appeal to individualism given that it is partly financed by a regime that dismembers free thinkers.

“Nobody owns golf,” the message read. “Golf is owned by everyone who enjoys it, watches it, and thinks about it – in other words, you. #PGL”

As an implicit call to arms against the reign of King Jay of Ponte Vedra, it fell flat. But that idea of ownership – not of the game, but of the players –explains why the League’s CEO, Andrew Gardiner, has finally moved into the open to speak publicly. He was on a salvage operation after Rory McIlroy holed the entire concept below the waterline earlier in the week.

“The more I’ve thought about it, the more I don’t like it. The one thing as a professional golfer in my position that I value is the fact that I have autonomy and freedom over everything that I do,” McIlroy said. “If you go and play this other golf league, you’re not going to have that choice … I’ve never been one for being told what to do, and I like to have that autonomy and freedom over my career, and I feel like I would give that up by going to play this other league.”

In a series of interviews, Gardiner conceded there wouldn’t be much wiggle room for players to skip some of the 18 proposed worldwide tournaments, an all-in requirement that might also dissuade a guy like Tiger Woods, who has young kids at home, a balky back, and scant interest in playing much more than a dozen times a year (including the four major championships).

Gardiner also confirmed a source of PGL funding: “The Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia is incredibly passionate about golf and its future and I’m delighted to have them involved.” The PIF invests on behalf of the Saudi government and is passionate about many things. Reputation management, for one. It was the PIF that paid a public relations firm – ironically named Karv Communications – $120,000 a month to help wipe the bloodstains from its image after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi chopped up.

Just the kind of outfit a global athlete would want a brand association with.

For all the attention Premier Golf League has garnered, it’s still little more than spitballs against a whiteboard. There’s the promise of financing, but no hard assets. No players. No tournaments. No infrastructure. McIlroy’s stiff-arming isn’t quite a fatal blow – he admitted that if everyone else jumps then he’ll have to follow – but having the world No. 1 say he’ll join only at gunpoint doesn’t much recommend it to his peers. Guys like Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose have teased interest, but they are players who don’t have the longest competitive runway ahead of them.

To be viable, PGL needs commitments from multiple younger stars, and the biggest star in that constellation just said no. Six years after it was conceived, Premier Golf League is all promise, no delivery.

That PGL has lingered for so long speaks to the depthless focus on finances among some players and agents, but also to how urgently the PGA Tour needs a reckoning with its own reality. Because even Woods predicts this will not be the last renegade challenge the Tour faces.

For all the fan-friendly piffle the PGL has peddled – fresh formats, team play, more head-to-heads among elite players – this is at heart a naked cash grab, and the PGA Tour will have to defuse it as such. Revenue from the new broadcast rights deal will boost purses and FedEx Cup bonuses, and Commissioner Jay Monahan will find a way to reward key players who move the needle, regardless of how they perform inside the ropes.

It might look like a shakedown by the players, but that’s the cost of continuing to do business.

At a recent meeting of the Players Advisory Council, McIlroy told players in the room that they can be about legacy or they can be about money. In choosing legacy, he has exposed just how large that leap of faith will be for others who might go overboard hoping there’s an alternative that can actually float.

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PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan gets a drink named for him at Pebble Beach

The PGA Tour Commissioner’s approach to the 18th green at Pebble Beach landed in the drink of a spectator and here’s what happened next.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — What does PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan have in common with Arnold Palmer? Well, in addition to a deep love and respect for the game, Monahan can now add a drink named in his honor at Pebble Beach Golf Links.

The Arnold Palmer, the refreshing combo of lemonade and iced tea, is a stock favorite at golf courses everywhere, but it is going to get a run for its money by the newest drink being served, The Monahan in the Rocks, which officially became a crowd pleaser last week during the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

The Commish competed in the two-man best-ball competition with Tour pro Harry Higgs and his father, Joe, teamed up with Keith Mitchell in the same foursome. On Friday, The Monahans played Pebble Beach and around 2 p.m., Jay fanned a shot to the right that bounced off the cart path and landed in a female spectator’s cocktail glass. According to Joe, she froze and held the glass while waiting for a rules official to give a ruling. (He was granted a free drop.)

As first reported by Pebble Beach Resort’s own web site, Monahan’s shot caused a good deal of commotion in the Palmer Club 18 grandstands.

“Bystanders jokingly catcalled Monahan, asking if he was planning to pay for the woman’s drink, and noting that a drink would now have to be named after him in honor of the humorous occasion,” the Pebble Beach web site reported.

Lo and behold, within 24 hours, they did just that, and began serving the now infamous “Monahan in the Rocks.” What exactly is it? Well, according to the sign it is a Moscow Mule with Grey Goose.

Props to the good folks at Pebble Beach for having a sense of humor. No word on whether the “Monahan in the Rocks” will be added to the menu at the bar at TPC Sawgrass, the site of The Players Championship, and home course for Monahan and PGA Tour employees.

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Jay Monahan, Maverick McNealy and playing with dad at Pebble Beach

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and rookie Maverick McNealy got to play with their fathers at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – For years, Joseph W. Monahan III has enjoyed the moniker, Joe “The Pro,” a nickname believed to be bestowed upon him by his brother Tommy, and sometimes shortened to simply “JTP,” by his cronies at Winchester Country Club back home in Massachusetts.

But this week, call him Moonlight Graham.

That’s because Monahan, a 76-year-old lawyer and father of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan, is playing in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am with second-year pro Keith Mitchell, and has turned into a modern-day Archibald “Doc” Graham, who finally did get his time at bat in the 1989 motion picture “Field of Dreams.”

“It’s like a dream world for someone like me,” Joe the Pro said. “It’s Field of Dreams and Shoeless Joe Jackson stuff. Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth walk by me and they both said, ‘Hi, Joe.’ ”

A year ago, Joe caddied for Jay and beamed with pride at riding shotgun for three glorious days at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which also includes rounds at Spyglass Hill and Monterey Peninsula Country Club’s Shore Course.

RELATED: Tee times, TV info | Photos | Celebrities | Scores | Updates

“Last year was the best,” Joe said. “We’re on the 18th green on Monday morning and I’m sitting with Jay and this guy is beside me. I don’t know who it is, and it’s Clint Eastwood. He says, ‘Buddy, you’ve got to be proud.’ I say, ‘I sure am.’ He says, ‘You know, you haven’t done too bad yourself.’ And he gives me a fist pump.”

How do you top that? The only way to do so was to upgrade to a spot in the field. It happened thanks to the urging of PGA Tour board chairman Ed Herlihy during a dinner at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach in June with the Commissioner.

“Ed said to me, ‘Have I ever asked you for something?’ ” recounted Jay. “I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Well, I’m going to ask you for something.’ I said, ‘What’s that?’ He said, ‘I want you to play with your father at AT&T.’ I said, ‘I’ll caddie for my dad.’ He said, ‘No, your dad is going to be 76. He loves the game. You need to have that experience playing with him.’ I hemmed and hawed a little bit, but it had been decided.

“I’ve played so much golf with my dad. He’s watching or playing all the time. To do this means a lot to him.”

And it is equally meaningful for Jay, and for good reason.

“It’s a particularly special time for me because his dad, my grandfather and our respective namesake, played in the 1947 U.S. Amateur here at Pebble Beach and lost on the 18th hole in the second round of the match play,” Jay explained.

On the eve of the tournament, Joe the Pro, who won the 2001 New England Senior Amateur, was asked at a reception by CBS announcer Jim Nantz, “What is your handicap?”

“Seven,” Joe replied.

“What? You’re a nine,” Jay said.

Laughter ensued.

“So now we know, he’s a seven but he put in for a nine. Oh, boy!” Nantz said to growing laughter. “I knew you were in trouble when you took about 10 seconds to try to figure out your handicap.”

It turns out Joe the Pro’s index is 7.3 and his 9 strokes is on the up-and-up. He put it to good use at the par-3 7th hole, rolling a 40-foot birdie putt into the heart of the hole after Jay’s partner, Harry Higgs, commanded him to “Do something,” for a net one on the scorecard.

Joe the Pro and his pro, Mitchell, signed for 7-under 64 at MPCC and are T-21 after one round.

Higgs, a Tour rookie who is paired with The Commish, shot a ho-hum 5-under 66 and Jay, a legit six handicap who could turn his shoulders a little more according to Higgs, pitched in two net eagles – at the par-5 6th and par-4 13th – en route to 8-under 63 (T-8).

One of the more comical moments of the day happened on the first tee when the caddie bib for Commissioner Monahan was spelled incorrectly with an extra ‘O’ replacing an ‘A.’ One spectator asked, “Are you guys related?”

Golfweek photo/Adam Schupak

Yes, they are. In past years, Lee Westwood (2013), Graeme McDowell (2014) and Rory McIlroy (2018) have all celebrated Father’s Day in February by playing with their fathers. Defending champion Phil Mickelson has a family connection as well. His late maternal grandfather, Al Santos, grew up in Monterey and caddied as a teenager at Pebble Beach after the course opened in 1919. Mickelson, who fired a 68 at Spyglass Thursday, marks his ball using a silver dollar from 1900 that his grandfather gave him – money earned during his days as a caddie. And Joe and Jay aren’t the only father-son tandem in the field. This year, Maverick McNealy and father, Scott, are joining forces for the second time, and opened with 6-under 66 at Pebble Beach.

“Someday, we joked, we have to play in this. I’d be the pro and he’d be the am,” said Maverick, who teamed up with his dad for the first time in 2018 and remembers his dad sneaking him inside the ropes at Pebble Beach when he was 5 years old and “still cute.”

This is the 14th appearance here for McNealy, the 65-year-old billionaire founder of Sun Microsystems who once won the Jack Lemon Award given to the amateur MVP. Maverick’s favorite memory of the tournament before joining the pro ranks is the time he turned on his phone when his flight landed in San Francisco late one Saturday night in February during his freshman year at Stanford in 2014. His eyes grew wide as he read a text from his father, Scott. “I’m paired on Sunday with Phil Mickelson at Pebble Beach. Do you want to caddie for me?”

Heck yeah!

Without hesitation, Maverick hopped in his car and made the journey to Pebble. While waiting on the fifth tee box the following day Mickelson gave Scott his cell phone digits so they could keep in touch. When Mickelson wandered over to the tee, Maverick whispered to his dad, “OK, you’re officially cool in my book now.”

Scott thought he’d played for the final time until Maverick’s sponsor KPMG, offered him a spot. It seems everyone is a sucker for a good father-son story at Pebble. Another sponsor, Under Armour shipped them matching shirts, pants, and pullovers. They’ve played thousands of rounds together, but this was more special and a reminder that Pebble Beach is a place where pros and amateurs and golf pair together quite like nowhere else. And this year, so do fathers and sons, especially the type that dish out pre-round advice.

“Dad, just two things tomorrow,” Maverick said before the opening round. “Hit the driver hard. If we find it great. If not, swing hard again next hole. And, don’t leave any putts short. And let’s have fun!”

“What a great pro I got assigned this year,” Scott quipped. “Knows just what to say. Love him to death.”

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Forecaddie: PGA Tour commish Jay Monahan and dad to play AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan is expected to play in the pro-am at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am alongside his dad, Joe.

PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan will compete in next week’s AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Forecaddie has learned. Monahan will be paired with PGA Tour rookie Harry Higgs.

“Well, he better bring some game,” Higgs said of The Commish, a single-digit handicap who reportedly has been taking lessons for his second appearance in the Tour’s flagship pro-am.

Last year, Monahan had his dad, Joe, on the bag and partnered with rookie Keith Mitchell.

“I’m certainly far more nervous out here trying to make a 10-foot putt than anything else I do professionally,” Monahan said after his opening round at Monterey Peninsula Country Club last year. “My hands were heavier than they’ve ever been before.”

The father-son dynamic remains intact, but with a twist. Monahan’s dad, a 76-year-old lawyer out of Boston, is scheduled to play with Mitchell, which led Monahan to ask his former partner who should be their fourth?

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan at the 2019 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Photo by Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

“By some miracle, my name came up,” Higgs tells The Forecaddie.

Higgs said he met The Commish at a Korn Ferry Tour players advisory committee meeting last year and during the rookie dinner at the RSM Classic, but he’s never played any of the three Pebble Beach courses in the tournament rotation. (The only course he’s played on the Monterey Peninsula is Cypress Point — #jealous — prior to The Western Intercollegiate.)

Higgs cracked that his celebrity pairing would mean the TV cameras might give him some love. But the rookie is off to a promising start, including a runner-up finish at the Bermuda Championship and T-9 last week at the Farmers Insurance Open.

“I’m going to have fun regardless,” Hicks said. “By the end of the week I’m going to be Commissioner, myself. Jay’s going to be so tired of dealing with us he’s going to quit.”

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Presidents Cup Forecaddie: Golf’s leadership hits the links at the Australian Sandbelt

The Presidents Cup served as a good excuse for golf’s governing bodies to meet and also play some great golf courses.

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MELBOURNE, Australia — As meetings of the Five Families of golf goes, it doesn’t get much better than a gathering in the Australian Sandbelt. The leaders of golf’s governing bodies had one of their quarterly get togethers under the auspices of a board meeting of the International Golf Federation and while The Man Out Front’s invitation went missing once again, he heard all about the birdies and bogeys and offers a hearty golf clap to one and all.

Thanks, of course, go out to PGA Tour Commish Jay Monahan, who threw his own outing at Metropolitan Golf Club, not far from Royal Melbourne Golf Club, site of the Presidents Cup. The three people who have had the pleasure to suspend John Daly for conduct unbecoming—Monahan, Tim Finchem and Deane Beman—were scheduled to tee it up together on Friday. USGA CEO Mike Davis, PGA CEO Seth Waugh and the R&A’s big cheese Martin Slumbers were on the attendee list too.

Earlier in the week, TMOF bumped into Beman, who cracks that he only plays once a day, at Peninsula-Kingswood Golf Club, and he squeezed in a round at Victoria Golf Club, where he played with Junior Presidents Cup participant Jackson Van Paris during another outing.

Finchem, whose daughter Stephanie works on the Presidents Cup staff, had come over early and stopped in New Zealand to play Tom Doak’s Tara Iti, and couldn’t stop raving about that vaunted layout. He pledged that he’ll make a return trip someday.

Finchem wasn’t the only golf leader heading to New Zealand to play some of its beloved courses. TMOF hears that the USGA’s Davis and R&A’s Slumbers were headed on a buddies’ trip and will be hitting the links for some post-Presidents Cup golf of their own. Could they be ironing out the final details of the long-awaited Distance Insights Project Report, due to be release in February, at the 19th hole? TMOF approves of golf’s leaders losing their blue blazers and chasing the little white ball around some of golf’s great cathedrals. If any of them needs a fourth, The Forecaddie’s set is packed and always ready to play an emergency nine.

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