PGA Tour chief Jay Monahan opens up on 'learning' experience at Dunhill Links

Monahan, who was partnering recent BMW PGA Championship winner Billy Horschel in the DP World Tour event, declined to comment after his outing at Carnoustie with Al-Rumayyan in Thursday’s opening round.

He then played in the same group as Rory McIlroy at Kingsbarns on Friday before having Johann Rupert, the Dunhill Links supremo, for company at St Andrews on Saturday.

Monahan missed out on making it through to Sunday’s final round along with his playing partner in the team event but spoke before heading back across the Atlantic.

“This has been an awesome week, an incredible experience to play these three courses and be inside the ropes with Billy,” he told a small group of reporters at the Old Course. “We had great pairings and obviously the weather is like this all the time.

“After watching this event for so long on tv and knowing how important it is to the DP World Tour and to the game, it has been cool to have this experience. To have played at Pebble in the past, it is a great experience, as is this one.”

How had he been received by the spectators? “The crowds here have been phenomenal,” he added. “This is the home of golf and it feels like the home of golf. Not only were they great in cheering me on, there were a lot of people here every day.”

Rupert, a huge golf fan, had clearly used the event’s 24th edition to bring some of the game’s most influential figures together at a time when talks are continuing between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF.

“Johann deserves a ton of credit for all he has done for the game going back decades,” said Monahan of the South African. “I believe this is the 24th year that Dunhill has sponsored this event. He is a man of the world and this is an event that is about the world. It was a very important week and wonderful to be a part of it.”

The event featured 14 LIV Golf players, as well as DP World Tour, PGA Tour, Sunshine Tour and PGA Tour of Australasia players.

Asked if he liked that model, Monahan dodged it by saying: “I completely enjoyed this experience. And what they have done here is very special. It was nice to be a part of it.”

Did he learn more about the DP World Tour by being here? “I have learned a lot by being on the board of the DP World Tour,” he said. “I invest a lot of my time in that capacity. We work closely together every day.

“I talk to Guy [Kinnings, the DP World Tour CEO] as much as anybody I talk to. Any time you travel the world and experience events on this tour I always have takeaways. I always learn things. And I’ve certainly done that this week.”

Through the Strategic Alliance in place between the DP World Tour and PGA Tour, ten PGA Tour cards are now up for grabs through the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai.

In addition, that arrangement has opened sponsorship doors for the DP World Tour, with Korean car giant Genesis, for example, having come on board as the Scottish Open title backer and next week’s French Open being the first under the FedEx Cup banner.

“Yeah,” said Monahan in reply to being asked if those were signs of the partnership working despite some people believing the DP World Tour is something of a poor relation in it. “When anybody talks about the DP World Tour, my view is that they are talking about the PGA Tour and the DP World Tour.

“This is such an exciting time of the year over here. The ‘Back-Nine’ is underway. And the Race to Dubai is near to its conclusion. For those who get to Dubai, it’s going to be one heckuva week with a lot at stake. It’s a nice cap to the year.”

As for the possibility of being back in Scotland again this time next year, he said: “I would love to come back.” Then, with a smile, he added: “But I don’t want to put Billy through that again!”