Jay Monahan to Step Down From PGA Tour at End of 2026
Jay Monahan, the longtime commissioner of the PGA, will step down from his post at the end of 2026. His pending departure was announced alongside the golf circuit's official hiring of former NFL chief business and media officer Brian Rolapp as its first CEO.
Monahan, who was part of the CEO search committee, told the board a year ago that he planned to step down after he reached a decade as commissioner.
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'Since then, we've worked together to identify a leader who can build on our momentum and develop a process that ensures a smooth transition,' Monahan said in a statement. 'We've found exactly the right leader in Brian Rolapp, and I'm excited to support him as he transitions from the NFL into his new role leading the PGA Tour.'
Though Monahan will still roam the links through the end of 2026, Rolapp will become the lead executive of the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Enterprises later this summer, taking on Monahan's day-to-day responsibilities and with tour management reporting to him. Rolapp will report directly to the board of directors for both entities.
On Monday, Sportico reported that the NFL will not replace Rolapp in his former role but will divide the responsibilities of his old position among several current league executives.
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Rolapp was long considered a successor to Roger Goodell as NFL commissioner before moving over to the PGA. However, Goodell, who became league commissioner in 2007, has two more years remaining on his deal and it's believed that he will sign an extension.
Monahan, who succeeding Tim Finchem as PGA Tour commissioner in January 2017, worked in multiple business development capacities before taking the tour's top job, starting his PGA Tour career as executive director of The Players Championship from 2008 until 2010. After SVP and EVP stints, he became deputy commissioner of the tour in 2013, working under Finchem for two and a half years.
His tenure as commissioner has been greatly defined by the still-pending joint venture of the PGA Tour, DP World Tour (European Tour) and LIV Golf.
When the PIF-backed LIV began poaching PGA players in early 2022, Monahan took a defiant stance against the new tour by suspending 17 PGA members who defected to LIV, banning them from participating in U.S.-based events.
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'These players have made their choice for their own financial-based reasons,' Monahan wrote in a memo to players in June 2022. 'They can't demand the same PGA Tour membership benefits, considerations, opportunities and platform as you. That expectation disrespects you, our fans and our partners.'
As the battle between the two tours made its way into the courtroom through the remainder of 2022 and early 2023, Monahan continued to publicly commit to the ban.
However, in May 2023, Monahan met with PIF governor Yasir al-Rumayyan, beginning a long series of discreet talks that led to a stunning announcement weeks later that the PGA Tour and LIV Golf (along with the DP World Tour) would work on a new entity with help from the sovereign fund. The actual union has yet to come to fruition.
In the process of the pending venture with LIV, the PGA formed the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises, with significant investment from a consortium known as Strategic Sports Group, comprised of team sports owners in the NFL, NBA, NHL, MLB and the Premier League. Launched in January 2024, PGA Enterprises holds the tour's commercial rights, with nearly 200 PGA Tour players sharing more than $1.5 billion in equity in the venture.
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In the meantime, LIV Golf has reshuffled its leadership in recent months, hiring Scott O'Neil as CEO and Chris Heck as president of business operations.
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