After the day that golf changed forever, with a seismic merger of LIV Golf, the PGA Tour and the European DP World Tour, it’s useful to go back a year.

That’s when all of this seemed implausible, if comments could be trusted as honest and genuine.

At the 2022 RBC Canadian Open, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan criticized those who left for LIV Golf. He sat behind a news desk with CBS broadcaster Jim Nantz at his side as the course at St. George’s Golf & Country Club filled the background.

It was the final day of the tournament, when Rory McIlroy — who later became one of the Tour’s most vocal supporters — defended his title.