Seth Waugh On New Commish Monahan: End Of The "Monarchy"

Former Deutsche Bank CEO Seth Waugh is one of the better-liked former CEO's in America and by PGA Tour players who enjoyed the Deutsche Bank Championship. He's also a mentor to Jay Monahan and naturally has nice things to say about the new PGA Tour Commissioner.

It's what he tells Golf World's Jaime Diaz that is much juicier and fun to translate.

Let the Finchem griping begin!

“Tim did a great job, but the client-service part of it is not something the tour has done well, and I think Jay will change that,” says Seth Waugh, who while CEO of Deutsche Bank Americas hired Monahan as his tournament director. “Jay makes everybody feel like a partner, because he thinks that way.

“The world has changed. Before if a CEO liked golf, he could probably have a tournament. The secret sauce of the whole thing is getting 35 companies to spend $10 million-plus a week. And that doesn’t just happen. It should be kind of fun, and sponsors haven’t been feeling that good about the deal. That has to be cultivated.”

“The commissioner model at the tour with Deane and Tim has been kind of a monarchy,” Waugh continued.

“Peter Dawson at the R&A was also imperial. But just as Rob Manfred at MLB and Adam Silver at the NBA have adjusted, Jay’s not going to run it that way. He works in concert more than by controlling.”

Any other ways you'd like to suggestion Commissioner Farquaad is not your favorite, Seth?

This was also interesting from another important figure in tournament operations world:

Another longtime power broker, Alastair Johnson of IMG, said, “Jay’s learned a lot from Tim, but he’ll be his own guy. I think he will be generally more engaging. Tim often seemed scripted, and with Jay you know a lot of it is extemporaneous, from the mind and the heart. He’ll have to say no, but will not say no as abruptly as his predecessors. Jay’s great strength is building relationships -- personal, political or corporate. He has the gift for being personal, political and corporate at the same time.”

Will not say no as abruptly as his predecessors...