Sad News: Xander Schauffele drops explosive resignation letter after been betrayed by PGA Tour chief

The world no.2 said that he feels betrayed by Monahan’s conduct during the PGA Tour, LIV Golf And DP World Tour merger last summer, stating that he’s lost the trust of the players.

While Monahan has secured billions of dollars of funding from the Strategic Sports Group (SSG) to secure the PGA’s future for the time being, that hasn’t stopped two PGA board members from resigning due to a lack of meaningful talks with PIF over the proposed merger.

So when asked about the current civil war in golf, Schauffele didn’t hold back when defending his fellow pros.

Speaking to The Times ahead of The Memorial Tournament, Schauffele said: “What I can say is that throughout all of this turmoil, what’s probably bothered me the most — now more than ever — is that we need someone to lead us, we need a leader. My job is to do what I did [at Valhalla] and play good golf and be an entertainer and show how exciting golf can be.

“I’ve criticised Jay in the past, but the fact is not once has our commander-in-chief stood up for all of us players and said, ‘This is happening, this is where we’re going,’ and protected us, basically.

“He didn’t take a stand when anyone left, he didn’t come out to the public and face the music, none of that. Obviously, there were reasons, but historically in tough situations you need a strong leader who can make the big waves smaller and make us feel better about what we’re doing. Right now, we don’t have that.

“Whether I trust him or not doesn’t matter. There are around 250 guys on tour. That’s a lot of people to satisfy. But what I know can help and know is right is that we need someone to stand up in front of everyone and lead the charge, whatever direction we’re going in, and wear the hard shots so the players don’t have to and take command of a fractured and sensitive situation.”

It’s not the first time that Schauffele has hit out at Monahan, saying earlier this year that he had ‘quite a way to go’ to see the trust of the players return.

But whatever happens, Schauffele wants to see golf come back together at some point so that fans can see battles like his with Bryson DeChambeau at the recent PGA Championship.

He added: “Bryson makes people turn the television on and there are several guys on LIV that are missed in terms of the full package we can provide a golf fan, so it’s got to come back together at some point.”