5 things we learned from the Jay Monahan-Keith Pelley press conference

The PGA Tour and DP World Tour expanded and strengthened their strategic alliance into an operational joint venture partnership.

“The more our teams have worked together the more one thing became clear: We are better working together than separately,” PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan said.

The PGA Tour badly needed to keep an ally in the DP World Tour and prevent LIV Golf from sinking its tentacles – and deep pockets – into a circuit with a global footprint.

The PGA Tour dipped into its coffers to increase its stakes in European Tour Productions and guaranteed that prize funds will increase over the next five years. It’s a win for Monahan, who added, “The game of golf is rallying. Our members, partners and fans are rallying. Today’s announcement should serve as further evidence that the ecosystem of professional golf continues to innovate and thrive.”

Here are five things we learned from Monahan and Pelley’s press conference on Tuesday:

1. This wasn’t a knee-jerk reaction to LIV Golf (but LIV Golf accelerated the timeline)

Keith Pelley the CEO of the DP World Tour speaks during a media conference. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images)

Talk of a more global schedule has been going on for decades back at least to when Greg Norman was World No. 1, and trending that way. But Norman’s momentum with LIV Golf surely accelerated the process.

Pelley noted that in 2016, he first sat down with then-PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem to discuss how the two leading circuits in the game could work more closely together.

“We had this relationship with the WGCs and I was relatively new into the position. And I said, ‘It doesn’t make sense. We are a dynamic Tour with National Opens, creating — we were in the midst of creating an elite series.’

“So we started the alliance and came to that in November of 2020. And I can tell you, it has exceeded our wildest expectations,” Pelley added.

“While this closer collaboration between our tours was always in the road map of our strategic alliance, it’s pretty obvious to say the current situation in golf has significantly accelerated that process.  I’m not going to sit here and pretend that is not the case,” he said in his opening remarks.

“When I talk about this was the road map for the long-term, we always felt that to be stronger as collective organizations, having us vertically isolated with no horizontal integration is not the best way…