More than 18 months since the two rival sides shocked the sports world by announcing a “framework” merger agreement, the PGA Tour and LIV Golf are still hammering out the finer details.
Adam Scott is in a critical role in those negotiations as both the chairman of the tour’s Player Advisory Council and as a player director on the policy board since 2024. The Australian understands everyone in the PGA camp may not be happy with the result of a potential reunification.
“I wouldn’t be surprised — or I wouldn’t judge anyone, the members — if reunification happened and they weren’t happy with how it happened,” Scott told the Associated Press at last weekend’s Genesis Invitational, in remarks published Tuesday. “I hope they’re not spending as much time talking about it as I have.
“I wouldn’t hold it against anybody if there were negative emotions attached to it, the thought of players coming back.”
The ramifications of a reunification are still up in the air. Last year, a popular talking point was for PGA stars who turned down big money from LIV to be made financially whole for their loyalty. It’s unclear how LIV players who wish to play tour events again will be reacclimated and whether that would come at the expense of some tour cards for the rank and file.
Scott, 44, was elected chairman of the PAC in February 2023 — four months before commissioner Jay Monahan stunned his tour’s membership by appearing with Saudi Arabia PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan for a CNBC interview to announce a merger agreement that had been kept under wraps.
The PGA Tour has done plenty since then, including striking an agreement with a new minority partner (Strategic Sports Group) to help fund its new for-profit wing, PGA Tour Enterprises.
“I’ll be honest, it took a couple of months to wrap my head around stuff,” Scott said. “Within the first few weeks of me coming on the board, we’re voting for a minority shareholder to take equity in the tour. There aren’t easy answers to any of this stuff. Everyone is entitled to feel something about what’s happened.
“The one thing I do know is we’re not going to please everyone, but everyone should know that I will stand behind these player directors. They’re trying to do the best thing for the entire membership. They’ve been faced with some tough decisions the last two years — tough calls, big consequences — for whatever we vote on.”
Scott has been thrust into a very prominent role in the negotiations. The PGA Tour appealed to President Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration, and Scott went with Monahan to visit Trump at the White House earlier this month to discuss the matter.
“We had a meeting with the President,” Tiger Woods said during the CBS broadcast of the Genesis Invitational on Sunday. “Unfortunately, I had some other circumstances that came up, but Jay and Adam, they did great during the meeting and we have another subsequent meeting coming up.
“I think that things are going to heal quickly. We’re going to get this game going in the right direction. It’s been heading in the wrong direction for a number of years. The fans want all the top players playing together and we’re going to make that happen.”
Scott reminded golf fans that the PGA Tour is not the only stakeholder sitting in on these discussions.
“There’s two people in this discussion, more to be honest — the DP World Tour, a lot of other stakeholders in the pro game,” he told the AP. “The tour and its representatives talk a lot about it. But we’re not in control of the entire situation. There’s another side to the story.
“It’s not been an easy thing to solve, otherwise we’d have solved it, I believe.”
While many PGA Tour members may have genuine gripes about the LIV Golf members returning potentially unpunished, Rory McIlroy — once an outspoken critic of LIV — said last week that everyone essentially needs to move on.
“Whether you stayed on the PGA Tour or you left, we have all benefited from this,” the Northern Ireland star said. “I’ve been on the record saying this a lot: We’re playing for a $20 million prize fund this week. That would have never happened if LIV hadn’t have come around.
“I think everyone’s just got to get over it and we all have to say, ‘OK, this is the starting point and we move forward.’ … Whatever’s happened has happened and it’s been unfortunate, but reunification, how we all come back together and move forward, that’s the best thing for everyone.”
–Field Level Media
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