INTRODUCTION
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.
That’s what seemingly happened when the PGA Tour announced that it was merging with its nemesis, LIV Golf (along with DP World Tour). If you have read any of the media stories covering this merger, you know that the PGA is considered the loser in this situation, and LIV is the winner.
Given a mulligan, here are two ways the PGA Tour and Commissioner Jay Monahan could have taken a better shot at making this announcement.
COMMUNICATE WITH INTERNAL AUDIENCES FIRST
Monahan didn’t give a heads-up to the PGA Golfers before the announcement was made. He also didn’t make them privy to his negotiations.
“When you get into these conversations, and given the complexity of what we were dealing with, it’s not uncommon that the circle of information is very tight,” Monahan said to the media. “This was a shock to a lot of people because we were not in a position to share or explain, as we normally would, and that was really a result of the commitment we had made to maintaining confidentiality through the end.”
Okay, that may make sense for not sharing with others his intent. But after the agreement was in place, Monahan should have talked to internal stakeholders immediately. Even though the players would still have been angry, they would have been less angry than finding out after the fact.
With emotions running high among the players, it’s likely and natural that they will offer even stronger resistance to adopting this change, especially as many have lost trust in Monahan. (“I feel betrayed, and will not be able to trust anyone within the corporate structure of the PGA TOUR for a very long time,” Pro Golfer Wesley Bryan tweeted.)
As a result, Monahan has few, if any, internal allies.
PROACTIVELY ADDRESS PAST COMMENTS
Monahan has made negative comments about LIV Golf over the past year, and today, he is spending his time trying to explain himself.
“I recognize everything that I’ve said in the past and my prior positions,” Monahan said to the media. “I recognize that people are going to call me a hypocrite.”
In the initial announcement, Monahan should have done a better job of shaping the narrative and addressing his past comments. Even though one of his subsequent responses is good (“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.”), it would have been stronger if he had said it upfront.
Monahan also should have proactively explained what happened to his efforts in revamping the PGA Tour. When Uber launched, it disrupted the taxi industry. Rather than adapt to a new way of business, many taxi companies whined and complained. That’s what happened when LIV launched: the PGA Tour whined and complained about it.
In case you didn’t know, LIV Golf offers professional golfers an enticing offer of higher payouts for less work (three-day tournaments instead of four) as well as no cuts in tournaments. Eventually, the PGA Tour announced it would make improvements, including increasing prize pools. Now it seems like Monahan gave up and joined forces with its once enemy.
“I don’t want to make any statements or make any predictions,” Monahan said. “But what is in place is a commitment to make a good-faith effort to look at team golf and the role it can play going forward.”
But it’s those past statements that have gotten Monahan into the reputation predicament he’s facing now, and now the players and the media are filling in what he won’t say.