PGA Tour commish Jay Monahan wants to talk to Phil Mickelson

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Jay Monahan, the commissioner of the PGA Tour, said he hasn't spoken to Phil Mickelson since his comments about the tour were published last month.

After announcing two weeks ago that he was taking time away from golf to focus on being the man he wants to be, Lefty isn't playing in the Players Championship this week at TPC Sawgrass.

The Saudi Arabian financiers of the Super Golf League were the subject of comments made by Phil Mickelson. The Saudis have a history of human rights violations, but according to Phil, he was looking past that to gain leverage with the PGA Tour.

The ball is in Phil's court and he wants time for reflection. We are going to honor and respect that. We are going to have that conversation when he returns to the PGA Tour. That is a conversation I look forward to.

The reporters asked about the proposed league. At the start of his opening statement, he made a veiled remark about the comments that Phil made about the SGL being used as leverage against the PGA Tour.

The PGA Tour is moving on and we have too much to accomplish to be distracted by rumors of other golf leagues and their attempts to disrupt our players, partners and fans.

I am grateful for the strong support our top players have shown recently and publicly, and I am extremely proud that we have turned the conversation around to focus on what we do best: delivering world-class golf tournaments with the best players to the best fans. We will always be focused on legacy, not leverage.

When and if he decides to return to the tour, Monahan would not comment on whether or not he has been suspended or disciplined. Some players on the PGA Tour have asked for more transparency when it comes to suspensions and bans.

He asked for time after stepping away on his own. We don't comment on any of the matters. Every player is accountable for their actions.

It was thought that Monahan hadn't completely ruled out allowing Mickelson to come back. He has made it clear that any PGA Tour player who competed in a rival league would face immediate suspension and a lifetime ban.

During a phone call with author Alan Shipnuck, who wrote an upcoming biography of PhilMickelson, the 2021 PGA champion said he enlisted other players to help him write an operating agreement for the SGL.

It is hard for me to talk about the different scenarios that could play out. He has won 45 times on the PGA Tour. He has a Hall of Fame career. He won at the Players Championship. He has inspired a lot of people and helped grow the tour. I will be ready to have a conversation when he is ready to have it, even though it is difficult to read some of the things that were said.

Several of his sponsors ended their relationships with him. The American Express tournament in La Quinta, California, will no longer have him as its host after Callaway paused its relationship with him.

If he wants to create his own thing or if he wants to come back and play X-amount of events, I think it is more of what he wants.

In a letter to the tour's CEO, Greg Norman, who is CEO of LIV Golf Investments, he accused the tour of threatening players who might want to compete.

I think people know how I play and how we operate and the values that we stand for, and I don't think there is any question that that is not how I operate. I am right here.

The Super Golf League is no longer a threat because most of the top players have committed to the PGA Tour. Many of those players made announcements at the Genesis Invitation, which seemed to put the Saudi-financed league on life support.

I don't know where they stand, I haven't heard anything since. It seems like every top player in the world, especially the younger guys, the guys that you really need to get something like that off the ground, they all want to play here.

The PGA Tour was ready to move on.

I wake up every day assuming someone is trying to take my lunch, he said. We operate as a team. We are at the Players Championship. The world's best players have told you how they feel. I'm not looking over my shoulder, I'm looking forward.