Jay Monahan Calls the PIF Deal Rollout His Biggest Regret as His PGA TOUR Exit Nears

Jay Monahan has about eight weeks left as PGA TOUR commissioner, and he spent his first sit-down on a brand-new Golf Channel show owning the moment that defined his tenure.

Monahan was the first guest on "Eamon Lynch Has Questions," Golf Channel's new interview show, which debuted Thursday night. Asked about the Framework Agreement with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, Monahan called the rollout of that June 2023 announcement the biggest regret of his time in charge, per PGA TOUR's account of the interview (opens in a new tab). Monahan retires at the end of 2026, and CEO Brian Rolapp becomes commissioner on Jan. 1, 2027.

The day golf found out on CNBC

For anyone who has blocked it out, the Framework Agreement landed on June 6, 2023, live on CNBC, after negotiations with the PIF that happened almost entirely in private. A lot of people were caught by surprise. That was the problem, and Monahan said as much.

"I was seeking to end a damaging divide in men's professional golf," Monahan told Lynch.

The goal, in other words, was not the issue in his telling. The execution was. "Because I mishandled the communication, because the rollout was a failure, that ended up prolonging all of that," Monahan said. He went further, taking personal responsibility for how blindsided people felt when the news broke, and summed it up in three words: that's on me.

The fallout was not just political. PGA TOUR's story notes that the stress of the negotiations and the aftermath led Monahan to step away from the Tour for about a month in 2023 to focus on his mental health. Talks with the PIF dragged on for nearly two years after that, until a February 2025 meeting at the White House with President Trump made it clear no deal was coming.

What actually came out of it

Here is the twist. The deal Monahan regrets announcing never closed, but the Tour that exists today is still shaped by it. According to PGA TOUR, the Framework Agreement helped end costly litigation and cleared the path for PGA TOUR Enterprises, the for-profit arm built around investment from Strategic Sports Group. That structure is also why the Tour can roll out a new competitive model in 2028 with players directly involved in ownership.

The timing of all this is hard to miss. Monahan's reflection aired the same week Undrafted reported that LIV Golf is winding down after its LIV 2.0 rescue collapsed in bankruptcy court. The divide Monahan said he was trying to close in 2023 is ending in a very different way than anyone pictured on that CNBC broadcast.

A decade of crises

Monahan took over from Tim Finchem in 2017, and the job rarely sat still. The 2020 PLAYERS Championship was canceled after one round as COVID-19 shut down sports, and the Tour came back about three months later at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Under Monahan, the Tour also landed a new media rights deal, signed its Strategic Alliance with the DP World Tour and created PGA TOUR Enterprises, per PGA TOUR.

That is a heavy resume for a commissioner whose name will still be tied, for many fans, to one botched announcement. Monahan does not seem bothered by how the scorecard reads. Asked what he should be remembered for, he deferred to time.

"History will determine what my impact or what my legacy was, and I'm very comfortable with that," Monahan said.

The handoff

The succession has been set since June 2025, when the Tour named Rolapp, a former NFL executive, as CEO (opens in a new tab) and said Monahan would stay through 2026. Rolapp becomes the fifth commissioner in Tour history on Jan. 1, following Joe Dey, Deane Beman, Finchem and Monahan. Monahan will remain board chairman of First Tee.

Rolapp inherits a cleaner board than the one Monahan had in 2023. There is investment money in the building, a schedule built around Signature Events, a new two-series structure arriving in 2028 and a rival league in retreat. What Rolapp does not inherit is the trust deficit Monahan created that June morning, at least not all of it. Monahan's admission on Golf Channel is part of paying that down before he leaves.

The last word

There is something refreshing about a commissioner saying, plainly, that he got it wrong. Sports executives rarely do it while still on the payroll. Monahan's Tour did survive the split, and on the business side it arguably came out stronger, but players and fans spent years arguing about a deal that caught them off guard. The rollout was the wound. Owning it on the way out does not erase that, but it does give Rolapp a cleaner first page on Jan. 1.

Sources: PGA TOUR and Golf Channel. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo Credit: Golf Channel via PGA TOUR.