Peter Malnati Talks Bringing Golf Together at Players Championship

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Saying that “something needs to happen for our sport’’ and that the PGA Tour’s top event, the Players Championship, “would be even better if we had Jon Rahm here,’’ Peter Malnati expressed Saturday that he welcomes bringing the game back together even if he is unsure how that gets accomplished.

Malnati, 36, one of six player representatives on the PGA Tour Policy Board, nearly aced the island green 17th hole and shot 66 at TPC Sawgrass during the third round but the majority of questions he got afterward concerned his off-the-course role and a report of a meeting to be held between player directors and the head of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, Yasir Al-Rumayyan.

The PGA Tour veteran said he was unaware of a meeting that Golfweek reported on Friday where board members were being “strongly encouraged’’ to attend, apparently on Monday, somewhere in the area.

“I’d like to tell the membership about it before I talk about it,’’ he said.

But Malnati spoke about several of the other topics that are front of mind, as the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and PIF—which backs LIV Golf—are supposed to be negotiating what in last June was called a “framework agreement’’ to bring the game back together.

“Our commissioner [Jay Monahan] has been saying for months that the next step is to have Yasir meet with players of the PGA Tour,’’ Malnati said. “There’s been, obviously, all sorts of challenges to making that happen. But, no, of course, that’s essential. That’s absolutely essential, because, at its core, like, players have no business running the PGA Tour, but this is a member organization. We should have input in the direction it goes.

“I think we've almost swung the pendulum too far in the other direction now after what happened on June 6th, where players and the whole organization were left in the dark, the pendulum has swung too far to where players are probably feeling like they have more input than we should. So I think, as it comes back to sort of neutral, I think we're going to land in a really sweet spot where we have the leadership of the Tour doing what they should, which they are, and we have a lot of transparency where the players know what's going on and are able to give their input.’’

Malnati was referencing the surprise June 6 announcement of a framework agreement that was negotiated between Monahan and two PGA Tour board members in secret with Al-Rumayyan and the PIF.

The aftermath caused considerable controversy and has led to changes, including Tiger Woods being granted a seat on the board and more player members. Along with Woods and Malnati, the player representatives are Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson and Jordan Spieth.

A meeting with Al-Rumayyan would be a necessary step for the players as it pertains to getting comfortable with a deal. Monahan said earlier this week that negotiations with the PIF were “accelerating’’ but it appears his last meeting with Al-Rumayyan occurred in January along with members of the Strategic Sports Group, which has invested private equity money into the PGA Tour Enterprises.

“[After] the announcement of June 6, I felt massive resistance to that personally,’’ Malnati said. “As I’ve learned more, I think I understand better and I’m very open minded to learning what involvement they want, what they want out of this and how they think they can help. I’m very open minded to that now.

“But on the surface, I think there are players who have resistance to that relationship, for sure. So that's why I do think it's important that maybe our next step is to meet at some point.’’

Among the biggest issues to sort out is how players such as Rahm would play in PGA Tour events. Malnati said there are a range of opinions on how that would work and how it is resolved.

“I’m definitely of the mind that, some way, shape or form, we need to give our fans a product where, when we have events like this, at the best venues, with the best everything, we have the best players in the world playing,’’ Malnati said. “We need to find a way to give that to our fans. Because that’s what they deserve for being loyal to us.

“It’s not like I need better players to come play against, but whoever wins this golf tournament is going to have achieved the most incredible accomplishment, to win on this golf course, against this field, but it would be even better if we had Jon Rahm here. I’ll just say it. It would be even better. It would be an even better win. So that’s something that we as a membership and as leaders of the membership, we need to figure that out, how do we make this happen for people to come back, and do it in a way that has some semblance of fairness … how do we do it in a way that can at least somewhat pass the sniff test and get us to a place where, when we have championships like this, we have a group of the best players … how do we get to a place where we have all of the best players in the world here.’’