Golf fans demand PGA Commissioner Jay Monahan's resignation after LIV Golf merger

Golf fans are calling for PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan to resign following the Tour’s merger with LIV Golf and the DP World Tour Tuesday.

As part of the deal, the Public Investment Fund’s (PIF) rights and businesses — which include LIV Golf — will combine with the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s business and rights. The partnership will help “unify the game of golf on a global basis,” according to the announcement. Monahan will be the CEO and PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be the chairman.

Monahan had been highly critical of LIV Golf dating back to the Saudi-backed tour’s start in June 2022. Additionally, the PGA Tour suspended LIV Golf players from competing in Tour events. One year later, the two parties are working together.

“Jay Monahan needs to resign,” Danny Parkins of 670 The Score tweeted. “He trips all over himself about sports washing and then installs a commercial grade laundromat for the Saudi Investment Fund at the expense of the players who stayed loyal to the Tour.”

One fan described Monahan’s actions as “unbearable.”

“Jay Monahan should resign today,” the fan wrote on Twitter. “His position against LIV for the last two years and now signing an agreement with them is just unbearable. Can’t imagine how many PGA players must be extremely pissed right now.”

Some PGA Tour players upset with Jay Monahan

Golf fans aren’t the only ones calling for Monahan to give up his duties. Some PGA Tour players feel the same, calling for new Tour leadership during a meeting Tuesday at the RBC Canadian Open in Toronto.

“It was contentious,” three-time PGA Tour winner Johnson Wagner said, via Big News Network. “There were many moments where certain players were calling for new leadership of the PGA Tour and even got a couple standing ovations.

“I think the most powerful moment was when a player quoted commissioner Monahan from the 3M [Open] in Minnesota last year when he said, ‘As long as I’m commissioner of the PGA Tour, no player that took LIV money will ever play the PGA Tour again.’ It just seems like a lot of backtracking.”

Monahan, meanwhile, told reporters he understands some of the vitriol that has been thrown his way.

“I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite,” Monahan said. “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. I accept those criticisms. But circumstances do change. I think that in looking at the big picture and looking at it this way, that’s what got us to this point.”