Report Revels Jay Monahan’s Staggering Seven-Figure Salary and Hefty Bonus

The money talks in golf is hot right now. We’re typing out extra zeroes on a weekly basis; but usually for those signing with LIV.

This week, PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan has had to disclose his annual salary from 2022 – which has received a considerable bump.

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Hovering around $14 million annually the previous year, Monahan’s 2022 salary is reported to exceed $18 million – the year he saw the PGA Tour lose some household names from the roster like Cam Smith, Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.

With the PGA Tour expecting sponsors and tournament organisers to cough up purses that can compete with LIV – it’s a bad look for the guys at the top.

Last year, the PGA Tour account filings show that Jay Monahan’s overall compensation jumped from $13.9 million to $18.6 million, a rise of nearly 34%. This included $9.2 million in “bonus and incentive compensation”. For comparison, Jon Rahm’s “official money” earnings for the… https://t.co/R72X5qgzyZ pic.twitter.com/y7yXL7SO22

— Flushing It (@flushingitgolf) December 13, 2023

For some perspective; Jon Rahm’s on course earnings didn’t quite reach Monahan’s salary this year – $9.2m of which was designated for ‘bonus and incentive compensation’.

Jay Monahan makes 4 times more than the winner of the Race to Dubai and doesn’t hit a shot outside a few pro am a year. Wow… that’s is crazy.

— Pablo Larrazabal (@plarrazabal) December 14, 2023

This all stems from a report on PGA Tour Inc’s legal expenses; which jumped 10x from $2 million to $20 million due to the multitude of lawsuits filed by LIV golfers and the legal battles involved with fining and suspending golfers that had left the Tour. 

PGA Tour Inc.’s legal expenses jumped more than 10 times from 2021 to 2022—from $2 million to $20.7 million

The legal costs were a large part of what drew the PGA Tour to agree to the three-way merger. https://t.co/DdYqsPvbrO.

— Sportico (@Sportico) December 13, 2023

The leadership on the PGA Tour has been criticized throughout the last couple of seasons, particularly an absence of media presence that has been filled by players such as Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas.

Regardless of whether most players respect Jay Monahan; the business he runs is in danger and needs to make a deal with its competitor – and quickly.

The financial repercussions of LIV will be hard to stomach for a lot of smaller tournaments and the PGA Tour in general, and raising the pay of their Commissioner while going hat in hand to sponsors during this time seems like quite the double standard.

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