Adam Scott said he will understand if there’s still bad feelings among PGA Tour members if it reunifies with players who defected to Saudi-funded LIV Golf.
Scott has been thrust into the forefront of such discussions since joining the PGA Tour board at the start of 2024, right about the time the PGA Tour brought on Strategic Sports Group and its $1.5 billion investment.
“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 said, “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.”
Rory McIlroy last week said he believes that reunifying with players who defected to LIV Golf is what’s best for the PGA Tour membership and “everyone’s just got to get over it” and move forward.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said reunification was a priority in the tour’s negotiations with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia.
Asked if reunification was the only way forward, Scott replied, “It’s one way forward.”
“But it’s not solely the tour’s decision, you know what I mean?” he said. “There’s two people in this discussion, more to be honest — the DP World Tour, a lot of other stakeholders in the pro game. 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.”
Scott has no regrets about agreeing to be on the Player Advisory Council for the first time at age 42. He then won an election to be PAC chairman that led to being a player director and ultimately a trip to the White House with Monahan to meet with President Donald Trump.
But it’s been a lot.
“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.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.