Peter Malnati has been one of the six Player Directors on the PGA Tour Policy Board since 2023, with the American not afraid to speak his mind when it comes to the world of professional golf.
Speaking at The Players Championship on Saturday, following a six-under-par round of 66, Malnati spoke at great length about the PGA Tour’s ongoing negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
One of the points the 36-year-old brought up surrounded a potential meeting of PGA Tour players and PIF’s Governor, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, with Malnati claiming “I don’t even think our membership knows anything about a meeting on Monday yet”, despite Jordan Spieth stating on Friday that: “We (a group of PGA Tour players) are being encouraged to potentially meet with them at some point.”
Speaking at TPC Sawgrass, Malnati stated: “I don’t know the details of it. Yeah, I just, I think, when I do know details, I would rather tell our membership first, but I, honestly, like, I think at this point I probably should have more details because, yeah, there may be a meeting, but I don’t even know; I don’t know where it is or how I’m getting there. I would like to know that information, and I would like to then tell the membership about it before I talk about it.”
The American was then asked about the state of the game, with Malnati giving yet another lengthy answer. “I think something needs to happen for our sport. I would love to see a unified game where we can — it doesn’t mean that — I want there to be different tours where guys can play, I want that, but I want to see a unified game where, when we have events like The Players Championship, that we have all the best players in the world and we’re proud to call ’em PGA Tour members. That’s what I want. I don’t know how we get there, but that’s what I want.”
On Tuesday, PGA Tour Commissioner, Jay Monahan, spoke about how talks with the PIF are “accelerating”, but the words of the Commissioner did not go down well with some PGA Tour players. Xander Schauffele, who leads The Players Championship going into the final round, claimed: “I mean, you know what I’ve said in the past on how I feel about it. Trust is something that’s pretty tender, so words are words, and I would say in my book he’s got a long way to go. He could be the guy, but in my book, he’s got a long way to go to gain the trust of the membership.”
Monahan address the media at TPC Sawgrass prior to The Players Championship
(Image credit: Getty Images)
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