TODAY’S TALKER

PGA Tour ‘focused on legacy, not leverage,’ says commissioner

Emboldened by support from golf ’s biggest stars, Commissioner Jay Monahan said Tuesday the PGA Tour was ready to move on from the threat of a Saudi-funded rival league and that his phone will be on whenever Phil Mickelson is ready to call.

In his annual news conference at The Players Championship, and with Tiger Woods being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame this week, Monahan instead dove straight into the Saudi topic with what could be interpreted as a veiled shot at Mickelson.

“We have too much momentum and too much to accomplish to be consistently distracted by rumors of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, our partners and most importantly our fans from enjoying the tour and the game we all love so much,” he said.

“We are and we always will be focused on legacy, not leverage.”

The “leverage” remark mirrored what Monahan said in a player meeting two weeks ago. It also is the word Mickelson used in Saudi Arabia and with golf author Alan Shipnuck that revealed Mickelson’s intentions and involvement with a proposed league led by Greg Norman and supported by Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.

Mickelson, while apologizing for his choice of words, said they were off the record and out of context. Shipnuck said they were not.

Mickelson said in a statement days after the comments were published that he “desperately” needed time away. He is not at The Players Championship and has not played since the Saudi International on Feb. 6.

Monahan said he has not spoken with Mickelson since.