Jay Monahan, the PGA Tour’s commissioner, has revealed Anthony Kim rejected the option of playing his way back on to the circuit before signing with LIV Golf.
Kim, once one of the hottest young properties in the game, sensationally reappeared in competition last month after a 12-year break. He will feature as a wildcard on LIV for the remainder of this season. Speculation has surrounded whether Kim could have instead returned to the PGA Tour. Monahan has made plain the 38-year-old would have had to work up from lower tours.
“I did not have direct conversations with Anthony,” Monahan said. “Members of our team did and they very clearly laid out what it would take for him to earn his way back to the PGA Tour. I would have liked to see him compete to make his way back to the Tour. But obviously he made a different decision.”
Monahan, giving his annual media address in advance of the Players Championship, said “negotiations are accelerating” with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. He was, however, unable or unwilling to provide even light detail on what elite golf’s future will look like. For now, LIV and traditional tours are operating in totally different spheres.
The tournament at Sawgrass this week takes place minus Jon Rahm, the Masters champion, and Brooks Koepka, who won the US PGA Championship last year. Monahan’s upbeat tone regarding the state of the PGA Tour was therefore difficult to justify.
“You’ve got 144 players competing in this championship and they’re the greatest players in the world,” Monahan said. “This is the greatest tour in the world.
“Strength comes from a number of different factors. It comes from the strength of your membership. You have Nick Dunlap and Matthieu Pavon and Jake Knapp, we consistently as an organisation regenerate talent and create stars.”
Monahan would not answer directly whether he had been asked to resign by any board member during a turbulent past nine months. Asked whether he felt he had the full backing of the membership, the commissionerhe said: “That’s a question that you’ll have to ask the players.
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“I can’t generalise as it relates to players but clearly given the responsibility I’ve been given, I have the support of our board. 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.”
