Rory McIlroy wants more transparency; Jay Monahan then ‘suspends’ him

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – One of the oft-repeated criticisms of the PGA Tour is the lack of transparency on everything from the vote for the player of the year, which is not published in any detailed way, to fines and suspensions, which have inconsistently and mostly not been made public.

Asked Tuesday at The Players Championship to give commissioner Jay Monahan a grade, Rory McIlroy, who took his seat as one of four player directors on the Tour’s policy board this year, had mostly good marks for the commissioner.

But he did add that the circuit’s lack of transparency is an issue.

“I think transparency and maybe it not being as closed a shop,” McIlroy said. “I’ve always felt that a few of the bans or suspensions, I think that should all be announced. I’ve always said that.”

When told McIlroy’s comments, the commissioner joked: “I would just say, effective immediately, Rory McIlroy is suspended.”

Full-field scores from The Players Championship

Monahan added that transparency is something the policy board has addressed before and would again if McIlroy wanted to bring it up.

“If that’s something that a member of our board feels strongly about rest assured it’s a conversation we’ll have with our Player Advisory Council and ultimately our board. That’s the way the system works,” Monahan said. “It’s a criticism that has been lobbied against the PGA Tour through the years, and I think we always have to be open to evolving.”