Jay Monahan has made some of the biggest calls in modern golf. He steered the Tour through a pandemic, fought off a Saudi-backed rival, and announced a surprise framework agreement live on CNBC. He later secured a $1.5 billion investment from a group of American team owners. Naturally, his paycheck also reflected those responsibilities. Let’s look at how much he made during his tenure.
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Sports Business Journal reported that Monahan’s pay topped $20 million in 2025. That marked a return above the $20 million threshold, following compensation of more than $19 million in 2024, according to the same publication. The Tour files its tax return each November, making these figures publicly available.
But how he got there has a long context too. He joined the Tour in 2008 and steadily worked his way up. He became deputy commissioner in April 2014, adding the chief operating officer title in April 2016.
On Jan. 1, 2017, he took over from Tim Finchem as the fourth commissioner in Tour history. In June 2025, the Tour announced that Monahan would step down when his contract expires at the end of 2026, with former NFL executive Brian Rolapp hired as its first CEO. Since Monahan served as deputy commissioner before 2017, his compensation as commissioner is the focus here.
His tenure brought several major changes to the Tour. In 2021, he launched the Player Impact Program to reward players who drive attention to the game. He also introduced the signature event model, featuring $20 million purses, as the Tour looked to prevent more stars from defecting to LIV Golf. Then, on June 6, 2023, he announced the framework agreement with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
Although the deal never materialized, it became one of the defining moments of his tenure. In January 2024, he followed that with a $1.5 billion investment from Strategic Sports Group, paving the way for the creation of the for-profit PGA Tour Enterprises.
His compensation, meanwhile, had been climbing well before those major developments. ProPublica’s database of the Tour’s tax filings shows Monahan earned about $7.6 million in 2017 and $7.4 million in 2018. By 2019, that figure had risen to $8.9 million.
The pandemic brought a different set of challenges. The 2020 Players Championship was cancelled after just one round, leaving Monahan to rebuild the Tour’s schedule around the disruption. His compensation jumped to $14.2 million that year and remained high at $13.9 million in 2021.
The arrival of LIV Golf in 2022 brought another major shift. As the battle between the rival leagues intensified, Monahan’s pay climbed to $18.6 million. It reached its highest point in 2023, the year he announced the framework agreement with the PIF, at approximately $23 million.
Interestingly, just $1.89 million of that amount came from his base salary. Sportico reported that $12.1 million came through bonuses and incentives, another $6.7 million through long-term incentive pay, and $2.5 million in estimated retirement benefits.
His compensation then fell to $19.2 million in 2024, the year Strategic Sports Group completed its investment in the Tour, before rebounding in 2025.
Looking at the full stretch, Monahan earned roughly $113 million between 2017 and 2024, based on the reported figures in the Tour’s filings. Adding his 2025 compensation takes that total beyond $133 million. These figures include deferred compensation and estimated benefits, however, so they do not necessarily reflect the cash he received in each year.
The Tour will not file its 2026 return until 2027, so his pay for his final year as commissioner stays unknown for now.