'Wouldn't Be Too Hard To Re-Heat The Soup' - Schauffele On Player Feelings Post-Merger

Xander Schauffele missed the latest player meeting but said that PGA Tour bosses probably couldn’t answer his questions anyway due to the lack of details known about their deal with the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF).

As defending champion at the Travelers Championship, Schauffele had a sponsorship engagement which meant he couldn’t make the player meeting for an update on how they felt about Jay Monahan’s huge about-face.

He says it wasn’t really a big deal anyway, as with so little information known about how things will progress – even among the people who made the deal it seems – there are few questions that could really be answered.

Schauffele reiterated that all players really want is some form of transparency about where the future of golf is heading – after being caught out by the big deal.

“The sad part is I probably don't even have a question they can answer,” said Schauffele. “There just isn't a whole lot of information out just yet. Some sort of the agreement still needs to be written up or agreed on, I should say.

“Everyone wants transparency and I'm sure in their eyes they are being as transparent as they possible can be, and all of us players would like to think they are taking care of us, but if they're not able to give us any answers, that means there aren't any.”

Schauffele agreed with Adam Scott that tempers have cooled from when the original announcement was made, and some of the angry membership called for Monahan to resign.

He had a novel way of saying that temperatures could well flare up again though if the right answers weren’t found.

“Probably wouldn't be too hard to re-heat the soup,” said Schauffele. “But, yeah, guys, Tour pros typically are pretty good at compartmentalizing and blocking out stuff and getting ready for game day.

“I was shocked obviously. Yeah, like I said, I'm not one to speculate. My range of emotions was from day one to now, you know, pretty wide, I would say.

“I'm not sure what the temperature of the room is to be completely honest, but I would say guys are trying to focus on playing well and moving up the FedExCup list.”

Schauffele recently said he’s spoken to some of the younger guys on the Tour about sticking around in the face of LIV Golf – but he clarified that it was more of a general assessment that keeping your head down and playing well usually sorts off-course matters out.

“I think it was more from a performance standpoint,” he added. “I think good golf always takes care of everything.

“That's seemed to be true my entire career. Just let your clubs talk. That's was what I was trying to touch upon. I don't think that was relating to any merger of any sort.”