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PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan is recuperating from a “medical situation” and is stepping away from day-to-day operations as he recovers, Monahan and the PGA Tour Policy Board announced in a statement Tuesday night.

Tour president Tyler Dennis and chief operating officer Ron Price will lead the organization in Monahan’s absence, per the statement.

“The Board fully supports Jay and appreciates everyone respecting his privacy,” the statement read, adding, “We will provide further updates as appropriate.”

The news adds to an already eventful and tumultuous week for Monahan, 53.

The PGA Tour, DP World Tour and LIV Golf rocked the golf world on June 6 when they announced an agreement to merge into a single, for-profit entity. The move caught much of the golf world off-guard, including the Tour players, who were not consulted before the deal was made.

When Monahan met with players behind closed doors following the announcement, many players directed their ire at Monahan, some reportedly calling for him to step down as commissioner.

On Monday, a U.S. Senate subcommittee sent letters Monahan and LIV commissioner Greg Norman asking to see documents, emails and other records having to do with merger as the subcommittee launched a probe into the deal involving the three tours and the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF), which bankrolls LIV Golf.

That investigation opened days after Monahan sent a letter to the Senate, in part placing some of the blame for the merger at lawmakers’ feet.

“While we are grateful for the written declarations of support we received from certain (congressional) members,” the letter read, “we were largely left on our own to fend off the attacks, ostensibly due to the United States’ complex geopolitical alliance with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This left the very real prospect of another decade of expensive and distracting litigation and the PGA Tour’s long-term existence under threat.”

Monahan took over as Tour commissioner in January 2017, replacing Tim Finchem, who retired after 23 years at the post.

–Field Level Media

For multiple reasons, The Los Angeles Country Club is a special venue for Max Homa.

The 32-year-old has risen into the ranks of golf’s elite — he’s ranked No. 7 in the world — but Homa is still in search of his first major title. He is hoping it comes this week at the U.S. Open in his home area of Los Angeles.

“I’ve just been thinking about how — I don’t know, when you grow up and we all have that cliche joke, putt to win the U.S. Open, putt to win the Masters, you don’t picture the golf course except for if it’s at Augusta,” Homa said Tuesday.

“To have a major in my hometown, 18-ish miles from where I grew up, I think that’s a dream come true.”

Homa has played his best golf in the familiar confines of California. Of his six PGA Tour wins, four have come in the state, including the 2021 Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles and the Farmers Insurance Open earlier this year in San Diego.

He has history at LACC, too, even though it isn’t a regular PGA Tour venue and is set to host major golf for the first time.

When Homa was a student-athlete at Cal, he shot a course-record 61 during the 2013 Pac-12 Championship.

“I do look at that (course knowledge) as a bit of a boost,” Homa said. “All the guys who played the Pac-12s here, anybody who played here prior, it’s definitely a bit of an advantage.”

The devil’s advocate might ask whether such a home-course advantage actually could create distractions for Homa. He joked that if friends have texted him this week looking for U.S. Open tickets, they shouldn’t expect a reply.

“I did try and at least plan a month or two ago like how I go about it,” Homa said. “If I didn’t respond to you this week and you’re somehow watching this, I’m sorry, but it’s a lot.”

Homa was also asked if there’s a danger he might “try too hard” this week.

“You just look at how I played every other major trying way too hard, so I’m quite good at that,” he cracked. “… In an odd way, it’s almost worked its way out positively because I’ve been thinking about this event for like a year, about how I can’t try too hard, can’t try too hard.”

A T13 at the 2022 PGA Championship is his only top-30 result. Last year he made the weekend at the U.S. Open for the first time, tying for 47th.

As for what he’s doing to try to improve that major record, Homa offered a typically humorous, self-effacing answer.

“Play better,” he said.

“I really do believe that my golf game is plenty good enough to contend in these things. I think I’ve shown that in other PGA Tour events. I’ve won six times, a lot of them recently. I’ve done it on some pretty great golf courses, some hard golf courses. I just think I get here and I try too hard. … I think I’ve been waiting for the weeks to click with my golf game and realizing that it’s not the golf game. This week will be a mental test for me, which is good.”

–Field Level Media

The list of golfers with double-digit wins in major tournaments is select, indeed.

Jack Nicklaus tops the group with 18 victories. Tiger Woods has 15, his drive to catch up to Nicklaus stalled because of injuries. And then there’s Walter Hagen, who won 11 from 1914-29.

Three. That’s it. But Brooks Koepka says his goal is to make it four.

Speaking Tuesday at The Los Angeles Country Club ahead of the U.S. Open, which begins Thursday, Koepka told reporters he is confident he can reach at least 10 wins in majors. After his victory last month at the PGA Championship, he’s halfway there with five.

“Double digits, that’s what I’m trying to get to,” Koepka said. “I don’t think it’s out of the question for me. I think the way I’ve prepared, the way I’ve kind of suited my game for these things is going to help me.

“And like I said, I’m only 33, so I’ve definitely got quite a bit of time. I’ve just got to stay healthy and keep doing what I’m doing.”

He clearly saves his best for the majors. He has nine PGA Tour victories — more than half of them in majors.

Koepka has won the U.S. Open twice, back to back in 2017 and ’18. They were different experiences; he was victorious with a 16-under 272 at Erin Hills in Wisconsin in 2017, then finished with a 1-over 281 at Shinnecock Hills in New York the following year. He’s spent this week learning about The Los Angeles Country Club, which is hosting its first U.S. Open.

“It’s a tough golf course. These bunkers are incredibly soft, which I’ve found quite interesting,” he said. “If you’re in these fairway bunkers, it’s extremely penalizing because you’re not going to get a good lie, number one, and it’s not like the ball is going to funnel to the middle of the bunker.

“If it goes into the lip it’s going to stay there. It could plug. Or if it gets in the back, the rough around these bunkers is quite difficult, too, so it’s never going to quite chase in.”

Koepka, currently affiliated with LIV Golf, finished T2 at the Masters this spring, his second tie for second (2019). His best finish at The Open Championship, T4, also came in 2019.

He’s won the PGA Championship three times, including in 2018 and ’19.

Aside from Woods, who has played only a limited schedule the past few years and currently is recovering from ankle surgery, Phil Mickelson (six) is the only active player with more wins in majors than Koepka.

Koepka’s PGA win at Oak Hill in May was the culmination of a lengthy recovery from a difficult knee injury he sustained in a fall at his home in 2021. He dislocated his knee, which led to a shattered kneecap and a torn medial patellofemoral ligament. And given what he went through to return to the top of his game, Koepka said that major win was special.

“They all mean something different, but this last one, for all the stuff I had to deal with, all the pain, the tears, all the stuff that went into it — like I said, there’s probably five, seven people in this whole world that really know what I went through and that were there kind of every step of the way. I think they enjoyed it maybe even more than I did,” he said.

–Field Level Media

Collin Morikawa has had the 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club circled on his calendar since playing college golf a few hours north in the Bay Area, so he’s not about to let a back injury sideline him this week.

Morikawa was only two shots off the 54-hole lead when he withdrew from the Memorial before the final round two weeks ago. He said it was due to work in the gym and not a golf-related back injury.

“This wasn’t because of golf. This was just bad movement,” he said Tuesday. “It sucked because I grinded for three days to put myself in contention. We figured some things out Saturday afternoon — that’s when you’re excited to wake up and you’re like, ‘We can put together a few birdies early on and you’re right there tied for the lead.’ And who knows what could have happened.

“But it was unfortunate — it sucked, because it’s a course that I’ve loved.”

As much as Morikawa is fond of Jack Nicklaus’ signature course, the California native called Los Angeles his “favorite spot in the world.”

After taking a few days off to rest and work on his rehab, Morikawa arrived in L.A. and stayed at his parents’ house Saturday night.

“It’s always going to be home for me no matter where I live, no matter where I move to,” the current Las Vegas resident said. “There’s just that extra added touch, specialness when you’re playing at home, when you’re playing in the state of California for me.”

Morikawa said he has been pain-free during practice rounds this week, including hitting out of bunkers and the deep rough. He did say that he “might be teeing it up kind of weirdly this week” as a precaution, but not to read too much into it.

The 26-year-old already has a pair of major titles on his resume — the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open Championship.

Morikawa has slipped to 18th in the Official World Golf Ranking, with his last victory coming in 2021. But he does have a pair of top-6s the past two years at Riviera just seven miles away and is oozing optimism this week.

He played the LACC while on the Walker Cup team in 2017, and Morikawa’s best previous finish at a U.S. Open was a tie for fourth two years ago at Torrey Pines in San Diego.

When he returned to the LACC this week, Morikawa saw a completely different golf course than what he remembered, but “in a good way.” The North Course will play different for the U.S. Open — firmer, faster and with significantly thicker rough.

“It’s just a big-boy golf course, it really is,” he said.

And all that debate about the proposed merger between the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund? That’s a subject for another week for this California kid.

“This week means so much,” Morikawa said about a major contested in his hometown. “But that’s just the added bonus, the added fuel for me, to go out there and not waste my energy on anything else.”

–Field Level Media