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Jon Rahm has issued his full support behind Jay Monahan, insisting the under-fire PGA Tour commissioner is doing a “fantastic job.”

Monahan has returned to work this week tasked with regaining the trust of dozens of PGA Tour players who were left blindsided by the shock framework agreement with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.

Monahan stepped away with an unspecified medical issue shortly after the bombshell announcement of the top-secret deal that has caused so much consternation in men’s professional golf.

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Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele were among the high-profile players who expressed their lack of trust in the 53-year-old at the Genesis Scottish Open in North Berwick.

But Rahm had a totally different outlook ahead of his bid for his first Claret Jug at the Open here on the Wirral.

The Spaniard clearly regards Monahan very highly.

“Jay has behaved so professionally and so well with me and my family,” Rahm told reporters on Tuesday.

“I’ve seen him stop to talk to my dad and my mum at a few tournaments now, and he’s been really good to my family. In that sense, he’s a really good man.

“Now, as it comes to what he’s been doing for us and the PGA Tour, I think he’s done a fantastic job.

“I would say it was unexpected what happened. I think what the management of the PGA Tour, the turn they took without us knowing was very unexpected, but I still think he’s been doing a great job.

“And right now after that happened, I only think it’s fair to give them the right time to work things out.”

When asked if he’d lost a level of trust in the commissioner, Rahm doubled down.

“No, again, he still has all this time to work this agreement to basically prove that this was the right decision,” he said. “As of right now, no.”

A significant bone of contention in the fallout of the PGA Tour’s deal with PIF, meanwhile, concerns a rumoured compensation plan for loyalists who rejected huge signing bonuses to join LIV Golf.

Rahm is not of the mindset that he deserves a big windfall just for rejecting the advances of the fledgling Saudi-funded series.

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“Do I think they absolutely should be and there must be a compensation? No,” he asserted. “I just stayed because I think it’s the best choice for myself and for the golf I want to play.

“We all had the chance to go to LIV and take the money and we chose to stay at the PGA Tour for whatever reason we chose.”

Rahm also suggested a sanction should be imposed for the LIV players who want to be reintroduced to the main tours when the so-called merger takes effect in 2024.

“From what I hear, they don’t really want to come back, so I don’t know,” he admitted.

“I can understand people on the PGA Tour not wanting those players back, and I can also understand why some of them want to come back.

“I do believe that some punishment should be in order. But I don’t know what – I’m not a politician.

“That’s for the disciplinary board and other people that are paid to do that. My job is to hit the golf ball and try to do the best I can.”

Merger talk continues to dominate the conversation here at Hoylake, but Rahm is focused on what means most to him in the sport – cementing his legacy in major championships.

“To be the first one to win an Open since Seve for Spain would be quite special,” the Masters champion beamed as he considered the prospects of replicating his idol on Sunday.

“It’s amazing to me that some of the great golfers we’ve had haven’t been able to do it, and they’ve been close. It would be a true honour to get there, to get to three majors, to be the second on the Spanish list.”

topics

Jon Rahm The Open Jay Monahan

Ben Parsons joined bunkered as a Content Producer in 2023 and is the man to come to for all of the latest news, across both the professional and amateur games. Formerly of The Mirror and Press Association, he is a member at Halifax Golf Club and is a long-suffering fan of both Manchester United and the Wales rugby team.