Jay Monahan returning to PGA Tour amid major resignation

PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan will return from his medical leave next week to a new landscape as the fallout from the Saudi Arabia PIF deal continues. 

On Sunday — two days after Monahan announced his intentions to re-assume his full duties on July 17 — PGA Tour policy board member Randall Stephenson resigned, according to the Washington Post. Stephenson, the former CEO of AT&T, said concerns over the Tour’s bombshell agreement led him to step down from the post he had had since 2012.

In his resignation letter, Stephenson said he intended to step down earlier but delayed his departure due to Monahan’s absence. Stephenson’s exit will be one of many major issues Monahan will face when he returns ahead of next week’s Open Championship at Royal Liverpool Golf Club.

On Tuesday, a Senate hearing will examine the PGA Tour-PIF partnership. Neither Monahan nor PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan will be in Washington, D.C., to testify. According to the New York Times, Monahan would have considered testifying if the Senate agreed to postpone the hearing, but the committee declined.

In announcing his return, Monahan provided no more details on what initially caused him to step away on June 13, only that his health had “improved dramatically.” During Monahan’s absence, the Tour and PIF’s full framework agreement was revealed, but most questions raised by the bombshell announcement on June 6 remain unanswered. The two sides also filed a motion to dismiss their lawsuits.