PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan says golfers suspended for LIV Golf affiliation 'need us'

BOSTON — In his first interview since suspending 17 players for competing in the rival LIV Golf Invitational Series, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan defended the punishment in an interview with CBS Sports during the final round of the RBC Canadian Open on Sunday.

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson, two-time major winner Dustin Johnson and longtime PGA Tour members Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen and Kevin Na are among those who are now ineligible to compete in tour events after playing in the inaugural LIV Golf tournament in London this past week.

«It's been an unfortunate week that was created by some unfortunate decisions, those decisions being players choosing to violate our tournament regulations,» Monahan said. «It's my job to protect, defend, and celebrate our loyal PGA Tour members, our partners and our fans. And that's exactly what I did. And I don't think it was a surprise to anybody, given how clear I had been about how we were going to handle this situation.»

The next LIV Golf tournament will be played in the United States, at Pumpkin Ridge in Portland, Oregon, from June 30-July 2. LIV Golf announced over the weekend that it added former U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, former Masters winner Patrick Reed and Pat Perez to its roster. They are scheduled to compete in Portland.

Monahan said players who competed in future LIV Golf events would face the same punishment as the 17 players who were suspended last week. When Monahan was asked why players couldn't compete on both the PGA Tour and LIV Golf circuit, he didn't back down from his previous position that players had to choose one tour or the other.

«Why do they need us so badly? Because those players have chosen to sign multi-year