Xander Schauffele hits back at Jay Monahan after PGA Tour commissioner’s comments

Jay Monahan is adamant about being the best person to lead the PGA Tour, but Xander Schauffele believes the commissioner still has plenty to prove to the membership

Xander Schauffele still does not trust PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and believes that feeling persists across the membership.

Schauffele, 30, acknowledged losing trust in Monahan last summer, sharing that there was a split between management and the players after the agreement of a deal with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund to merge LIV Golf with the PGA and DP World Tours. The American also called the organization out over its communication and transparency, namely for announcing the deal without informing its membership.

Monahan had not spoken publicly since last year’s Tour Championship but held a press conference on Tuesday at TPC Sawgrass ahead of The Players Championship. The commissioner bullishly backed himself to continue in the role despite players, including Schauffele, previously calling for him to resign.

He acknowledged: “There are always things when you look back that you would do differently. Obviously, when you look back to last summer, I could have handled that better, and I’ve taken full responsibility and accountability for that. That’s on me.

“But we’ve moved on, and we’ve made so much progress since that point in time, and I have learned from it. I’ve been humbled by it.

“I think I’ve gotten stronger as a leader, and the progress that we have made since that point in time, I couldn’t be more excited about it.” He added: “There’s been a lot of good-spirited debate amongst our board.

“I don’t think that would be a surprise to anybody, you know, given the events of last summer. But we are a unified front.”

“I can’t generalize as it relates to players, but clearly given the responsibility I’ve been given by both boards, I have the support of our board, and I am the right person to lead us forward. I know that. I believe that in my heart, and I’m determined to do exactly that.”

Schauffele, and, he claims, the membership is not so sure. “Trust is something that’s pretty tender,” the seven-time Tour winner said when facing the media first following Monahan speaking for just under an hour, “so words are words, and I would say, in my book, he’s got a long way to go.

“He could be the guy, but in my book, he’s got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership. I’m sure he’s got the support of the [policy] board since they were with him making some of those decisions, but for me personally, he’s got quite a ways to go.”

Schauffele added: “I haven’t really thought too much about how to alleviate the pains of an entire membership,” when asked about ways for Monahan to fix the situation.

“To be completely honest, I would consider myself pretty uninformed,” he acknowledged. “Haven’t really sought out a whole lot of information just because, you know, when I felt like I did, I didn’t get any.”