Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Adam Scott says his meeting with PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and President Donald Trump last week was “positive” for getting a PGA-LIV deal to reunite men’s golf stars. The 44-year-old Australian spoke with Golf Channel on Tuesday from the PGA Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines, moved from Riviera due to wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
“It’s just a positive thing that the President of the United States is such a lover of the game of golf and understands some of the challenges facing the professional game at the moment,” Scott said in a report posted on the network’s website. LIV Golf debuted in 2022 with several top stars leaving the PGA Tour for the upstart series, prompting the PGA to ban them from their events. Major tournaments are now the only outlet for LIV and PGA stars to compete against one another.
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Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), backers of LIV Golf, have been in talks with PGA Tour officials about an investment deal since a “framework agreement” was unveiled in June 2023. But 14 months after the first deadline to complete talks on uniting LIV and PGA talent under one banner, no deal has been finalized. There have been concerns about a Saudi investment in a US business by the Department of Justice, but Scott said Trump could be able to hasten completion of a deal.
“Given how things are sitting with the Department of Justice among the professional game, this is all crazy stuff,” Scott said. “He’s a lover of the game and hopefully will be very helpful for the professional game and help everybody move forward.”
Scott, the 2013 Masters champion, and Monahan went to the White House last Tuesday, with Tiger Woods helping set up the meeting with Trump, according to a Golf Channel source. Woods, who played golf with Trump on Sunday, and Scott are members of the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises, which PIF would invest into as part of the deal in talks.
“The president is passionate about (golf), owns several golf properties, fabulous destinations around the world,” Scott said. “He has a relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Public Investment Fund. I genuinely think he’s a fan of the PGA Tour as well and he’s certainly a fan of Tiger Woods. Most people are,” Scott said. “Given this has been tied up, he can be very helpful.”
Scott said Trump could hasten the pace of stalled talks by getting involved. “The difficult thing for maybe the administrations to understand — why professional golf coming back together, working more harmoniously let’s say, is not a breech of anti-trust or anticompetitive issues,” Scott said. “That’s what has really been looked at. Hopefully this can be helped by the President and things can move forward at a faster pace.”
© 2024 AFP
