Jay Monahan Highlights New Programs, Events, Charity in Year-end Wrap

Nothing ever stays the same, and that's the case at the PGA Tour. In recent months, changes include player ownership, or equity interest, in the newly created PGA Tour Enterprises, a subset of the PGA Tour where new entities can be created to benefit the players, sponsors, and charity. And that's just the beginning.

Being pro-active, the Tour has spent time and money to reach out to golf fans to find out what they want to see in telecasts of golf events.

“We've already received over 30,000 responses to our initial survey,” Monahan said. “We're looking at what we offer to fans from all angles, and everything is on the table. We're going into this without assumptions.”

This was done based on what their new investor, Strategic Sports Group, did with MLB and the NFL.

“We're drawing on the expertise of our investors at Strategic Sports Group to help get this right,” Monahan added.

Some changes that will be visible right away will be PGA Tour TV broadcasts.

Already introduced player walk-and-talk interviews during tournaments, behind-the-scenes like PGA TOUR Full Swing and Fan Forward are three examples of ideas that had been developed, according to the commissioner.

“During the FedExCup Fall, we'll be piloting a new broadcast approach with the Golf Channel at several events,” Monahan added. “On Thursday, we'll show fans a traditional broadcast. Then on Friday, the presentation will adopt new features based on fan feedback.”

For international audiences and to highlight international stars, like Adam Scott, Hideki Matsuyama and others, the PGA Tour will develop a new International Feed for PGA Tour events.

“That means the Japanese fan will watch a broadcast that's more customized to him or her, with focused coverage of Japanese players and with Japanese commentators and graphics,” Monahan explained.

The new International Feed will debut at The Players in 2025.

During the week of the Tour Championship, the PGA Tour is utilizing social influencers in a contest they call the Creator Classic – a golf event-- which will stream live on the PGA TOUR YouTube channel, Peacock, and ESPN+.   

“The content creators have already generated over a million video views and over 70,000 engagements across their social channels,” the commissioner noted.

The PGA Tour has also rebuilt Shotlink which is useful for measuring the performance of each player, perhaps to a level farther than anyone wants to go.

The commissioner praised the new Signature Events saying that they have had the strongest fields.  Importantly, PGA TOUR is fully sponsored for 2025, with many companies signing multi-year agreements.

As far as the PIF (Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia) deal is concerned, it is not concluded, but it is moving along, albeit more slowly than anyone on this side of the Atlantic would like.  

With regard to player ownership, Jay Monahan noted that PGA Tour players are the “first athletes in professional sports to truly have an ownership stake in their sport's collective success.”

The Signature Events have been deemed a success.   

“We saw a 30 percent increase in strength of field at our full-field events, and we saw players in many cases playing more events because of the competitive structure that we have in place,’ he added.   That can only be good for fans and viewers.

The most ridiculous questions asked this week had to do with whether or not the Playoff events should remain at the locations where they are currently held, particularly Memphis and Atlanta, due to the heat this time of year.  It’s nearly impossible to believe anyone would ask that. (Nearly, because several people did.)

Memphis is the home of Federal Express, the company that sponsors the year-long FedEx Cup.  It’s going to Memphis because FedEx is there. End of story.

Atlanta is home to Coca-Cola, a huge sponsor of the Tour Championship. Unless Coke decides to relocate to Cincinnati or Bismark, as long as they have the contract with the Tour, the final event will be in Atlanta.

People should stop asking these questions. Or perhaps do a Google or Chat search on the headquarters of Coke and FedEx.   

As the week progressed, while there continued to be armchair critiquing of the new design of East Lake Golf Club, it’s the location where the tournament is held. 

Could the course use a few changes for next year, like fixing the crowned fairway at the 18th?  Yes.  Will it happen?  Nobody knows.  But once the Tour officials found out the 10th fairway was about to be in play because the 18th was impossible to hold or hit from, they created a local rule making that and another fairway out of bounds as a location and issued a statement as follows:

“For the safety of spectators, players, caddies and everyone on property at East Lake Golf Club, the PGA TOUR Rules Committee has established two internal boundaries for this week’s TOUR Championship. The fairway on No. 7 is out of bounds during play of No. 6, and the fairway on No. 10 is out of bounds during play of No. 18.”

Finally, a former theme that was used by the Tour several decades ago rings in the back corners of the brain, which is charity is the biggest winner on the PGA Tour. Just in the last few weeks, Monahan has had examples he could use.

“The impact of these tournaments really speaks to what the PGA TOUR has and will always stand for,” Monahan said. “We have the FedEx St. Jude Championship which has eclipsed $60 million to St. Jude's in its time frame.  We have the BMW Championship which just this year alone will reach $6 million for the Evans Scholars through the Western Golf Association.”

And, of course in Atlanta, the East Lake Foundation has rebuilt East Lake Golf Club, and helped redevelop the surrounding community.   

“We're all super familiar here and have been a part of witnessing the transformation that this tournament has participated in in the East Lake community. I don't want to miss a name because it's five super important charities,” Monahan added. “First Tee of Metro Atlanta, obviously the East Lake Foundation itself, Focus Community Strategies, Grove Park Foundation, and Purpose Built Schools Atlanta.”

Over $7 million will go to those five organizations from this year’s tournament.

As far as The Playoffs themselves, the Tour feels the 70-50-30 cut system for the Playoffs has finally “provided compelling drama.”

As everyone who watched them discovered, one shot can make a big difference in a player’s season or even career.