PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — Jay Monahan provided a compelling tease on Tuesday, at the beginning of his state-of-the-PGA Tour news conference that annually precedes the Players Championship. “I want to start this morning a little differently with an update on our negotiations with the Public Investment Fund (PIF) at the outset,’’ the embattled PGA Tour commissioner began. “Here’s where we stand … ’’ And from there, Monahan proceeded to shed little to no light on where the PGA Tour actually does stand in its attempt to unify the sport with Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which poached some of the game’s biggest stars from the PGA Tour for hundreds of millions of dollars. Monahan characterized the “talks’’ between the PGA Tour and PIF chairman Yasir Al-Rumayyan as “real … substantial’’ and “being driven at the top levels of both organizations.’’