PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan rules out LIV Golf reconciliation

Jay Monahan has ruled out the prospect of “peace in our time” between his PGA Tour and the LIV Rebels.

The two competitions are currently embroiled in an antitrust lawsuit filed in August by LIV players who were suspended from the PGA Tour after defecting to the Saudi-backed rival.

Phil Mickelson, Ian Poulter, Bryson DeChambeau and others sued the PGA Tour and were backed by LIV CEO Greg Norman, who said monopoly power had been used to stifle competition with wrongly banned rebel players.

When asked on the Golf Channel ahead of North Carolina’s Presidents Cup if there was any prospect of a truce, Monahan immediately dismissed the suggestion.

“Listen, I think I made that pretty clear: I don’t see that,” he said.

“If you look at where we are and think about words and actions, we are currently in a legal battle. So when you get together and have conversations, that card is off the table for me, and has been for a long time.’

Monahan continued, “If you look at the PGA Tour and you look at where we are today and you look at what we’re trying and accomplishing every day – what’s our focus?

“To provide the best competitive platform for the best players in the world, to achieve at the highest level, to win the championships, that have history, that have tradition, that create legacy.

“We’re going to keep doing that, and we’re going to keep getting better at it, we’re going to keep getting stronger at it.

“You’ve heard me say before that we’re going to focus on things we control; We have more resources at our disposal, stronger partnerships, and we have the best players in the world telling us that not only are they going to commit to playing more, but they’re really looking at the organization to make that happen.

“It’s all about where we are and where we’re going and again, I couldn’t be more excited about the possibilities here.”

The PGA Tour did not hold back in its response to the LIV lawsuit last month, with lawyers claiming it was an attempt to use golf to “sports wash” the Saudi Arabian government’s human rights record.

“LIV is not a rational economic operator competing fairly to launch a golf tour,” the tour’s attorneys wrote.

“She is willing to lose billions of dollars to get the plaintiffs and the sport of golf to ‘sport launder’ the Saudi government’s deplorable record for human rights abuses.

“If the plaintiffs were allowed to break their TOUR contracts without consequences, the entire mutually beneficial structure of the TOUR, an agreement that propelled the sport and furthered the interests of golfers traced back to Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus receding, collapsing.”

The Saudi rebels’ bombshell lawsuit claimed her suspension from the tour would do “irreparable harm” to her career.

The lawsuit read: “As part of its carefully orchestrated plan to best the competition, the Tour has threatened players who participate in even a single LIV golf event with lifetime bans.

“It has backed up those threats by imposing unprecedented bans on players (including the plaintiffs) causing irreparable harm to players and their ability to ply their trade.”

However, the tour insisted the players faced no threat and that the trio were aware of the consequences they would face if they accepted millions to join LIV golf.