Adam Scott says that his meeting with PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan and President Donald Trump last week were “positive” for obtaining a PGA-Liv agreement to bring together male golf stars.
The 44 -year -old Australian spoke on Tuesday with Golf Channel of the PGA Genesis Invitational in Torrey Pines, left Riviera due to forest fires in the Los Angeles region.
“It’s just a positive thing that the President of the United States is such a lover of the golf game and understands some of the challenges that the professional game is confronted,” said Scott in a report published on the network website.
Liv Golf made its debut in 2022 with several best stars leaving the PGA Tour for the Upstart series, which prompted the PGA to ban them from their events. Major tournaments are now the only outlet for Liv and PGA stars to compete against each other.
The public investment fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF), Backers of Liv Golf, is in talks with PGA Tour officials on an investment agreement since an “framework agreement” was unveiled in June 2023.
But 14 months after the first deadline to complete the talks on uniting the talents of Liv and PGA under a single banner, no agreement was finalized.
There have been concerns about a Saudi investment in an American company by the Ministry of Justice, but Scott said Trump could be able to accelerate an agreement.
“Given how things are seated with the Ministry of Justice among the professional game, everything is crazy,” said Scott. “He is a game lover and, hope, will be very useful for professional game and will help everyone move forward.”
Scott, 2013 masters champion, and Monahan went to the White House last Tuesday, with Tiger Woods helping to set up the meeting with Trump, according to a golf channel source.
Woods, who played golf with Trump on Sunday, and Scott is a member of the board of directors of PGA Tour Enterprises, in which Pif would invest in the agreement in talks.
“The president is passionate about (Golf), has several golf properties, fabulous destinations around the world,” said Scott. “He has a relationship with Saudi Arabia and the public investment fund. I really think he’s also a fan of the PGA Tour and he is certainly a fan of Tiger Woods. Most people are,” said Scott .
“Since it has been linked, it can be very useful.”
Scott said Trump could accelerate the rhythm of the talks in a standstill by getting involved.
“The difficult thing for perhaps the administrations to understand-why the professional golf course meeting, working more harmoniously, say, is not a cylinder head of anti-trust or anti-competitive problems,” said Scott.
“This is what was really considered. I hope it can be helped by the president and things can go ahead at a faster rate.”
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