PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is recovering from “a medical situation,” according to a statement posted on the Tour’s Twitter site shortly after 10 pm on Tuesday.
Monahan, 53, has been the Tour commissioner since January 2017. He is the fourth commissioner of the Tour since its breakaway from the PGA of America in 1968.
The Tour said in the release that Monahan informed the PGA Tour Policy Board of his situation. The Tour did not elaborate on the nature of the medical issue but said “we will provide further updates as appropriate.”
“The Board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy,” the posting said.
Ron Price, the Tour’s chief operating officer, and Tyler Dennis, executive vice-president, will run the day-to-day operations of the Tour, “with the assistance of the great team Jay has built, ensuring seamless continuity,” the statement said.
Monahan has faced two difficult challenges since taking over from Tim Finchem, dealing with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which shut the Tour down for six weeks, and the emergence of the LIV Golf League last year, which lured top PGA Tour stars such as Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Cameron Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Phil Mickelson with lucrative guaranteed contracts of up to $100 million and purses at LIV events of $25 million.
LIV Golf was funded by the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund, which has around $650 billion.
On June 5, after nearly a year of turmoil in professional golf that included federal lawsuits filed by both sides, the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf announced a partnership that will result in an as-yet named for-profit commercial entity.
Under the agreement, Monahan will remain the PGA Tour commissioner and serve as the chief executive officer of the commercial venture. All litigation involving LIV Golf, the Tour and the DP World Tour also ceased.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Tour says commissioner Jay Monahan recovering from ‘medical situation’