Xander Schauffele calls out tour bosses

Xander Schuffele says he “wouldn’t mind” having new leadership on the PGA Tour as the tour and the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund negotiate a deal that would bring the sides together.

Schauffele’s comments, published this week in a long story by Michael Catling Today’s golfer, come as the proposal enters its fourth month of negotiations, most of which have been kept under wraps. The deal would create a for-profit company operated by the two teams – which had previously competed through PIF’s funding of LIV Golf – and brokered by Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, two Tour officials and Yasir Al-Rumayyan had become , the PIF governor.

All of this has frustrated the sixth-ranked player in the world.

“I wouldn’t mind if there was new leadership in our district,” Schauffele said Today’s golfer.

“I would be lying if I said I had a lot of confidence after what happened. That’s definitely the consensus I get when I talk to a lot of people. It’s a bit contradictory for them to call it “our tour” and things can happen without us even knowing.

“It’s hard. I’m sure there are reasons for what happened, but at the same time it really puts us in a position to trust the leadership that has done some things in the dark and should actually have our best interests at heart. … “I’m still a little in the dark. I hate sitting here and hoping for the best.”

What’s notable is that a month after the deal was announced in early June, Schauffele expressed a similar thought, as did others.

At the Scottish Open in July, Schauffele questioned his trust in Monahan. The majority of Tour players learned of the deal through the announcement, and Monahan took a medical leave of absence a week later.

“If you want to call it one of the rockier times on the tour, the guy should have been there for us, but he wasn’t,” Schauffele said at the time. “Obviously he had health problems. I’m glad he said he’s doing much better. But yes, I would say he has a lot of difficult questions to answer when he returns, and yes, I don’t trust people easily. He had my trust, and he has much less of it now. So I’m not alone when I say that. Yes, he just needs to answer our questions when he gets back.”

Since then, the Tour-PIF negotiations have continued with some questions. Will the proposed December 31 deadline be met? Will it fall through? Could another group join in? What does the future of LIV look like? However, a lot is unclear in the interview Today’s golferSchauffele said he remains committed to playing on the tour, something he has said before.

“I haven’t really thought about it much and I’m not sitting here thinking, oh God, I should have pursued this more or anything like that,” said Schauffele, who revealed last year that he had spoken to LIV. “I’m pretty happy with where I’m at and what I’ve done.”

Also in an interview with Today’s golferSchauffele said there was “no rift” in the U.S. team at the Ryder Cup.

The comments deny a Sky Sports report that Patrick Cantlay, Schauffele’s American teammate and friend, was upset that he was not adequately compensated for the biennial event and that Cantlay declined in protest. to wear a hat. (Cantlay also denied the story.) Both players and fans used the report as a rallying cry, and the Europeans defeated the Americans.

“I’m not sure how or why any of this was printed,” Schauffele said Today’s golfer. “If I want to be clear, there were no breaks in our team room. Saying we didn’t eat with our teammates was pretty funny. Everyone in our locker room laughed quite a bit at that part.”

Schauffele, in Today’s golfer story, was also critical of his father’s comments at the event. There, Stefan Schauffele met with a group of reporters, including GOLF’s Dylan Dethier, and in his comments he said: “I think if the PGA of America is a for-profit organization, they need to let the players share in that profit.” Instead of being so damn opaque, they should disclose the numbers. And then we should go to the table and talk.”

The younger Schauffele told Today’s Golfer:

“I was quite unhappy about him speaking to the media. We’ve already figured that out.”

Editor’s Note: To read the full Today’s Golfer story, please click here.

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Nick Piastowski

Golf.com Publisher

Nick Piastowski is a senior editor at Golf.com and Golf Magazine. In his role, he is responsible for editing, writing and developing stories across golf. And when he’s not writing about ways to hit the golf ball farther and straighter, the Milwaukee native is probably playing the game, hitting the ball left, right and short, and drinking a cold beer to wash away his score. You can contact him about any of these topics – his stories, his playing or his beers – at nick.piastowski@golf.com.