Scott to help broker peace

AUSSIE COUNCIL HEAD

ADAM Scott, having already knocked back Greg Norman’s LIV Golf, looms as the next moderator in what Tiger Woods called the game’s new reality.

Scott, 42, has been voted by his peers as the new chairman of the Player Advisory Council, which advises PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the USbased circuit.

He’ll join a group that includes Rory McIlroy, whom Woods is returning to play with at this week’s Genesis Invitational.

Scott, while rebutting offers from LIV to join the all-Australian team now headed by Cameron Smith, has been more moderate in his approach to the breakaway circuit and those who joined.

Last September, he said LIV was not “pure evil” despite the backlash for the Saudi-backed tour, which spent up big to secure players including Smith and major champions Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.

Scott even hinted at how his voice could help ease the ongoing tension between the warring parties.

“Maybe because I’m a little less emotive about it I can be a voice of reason for one side or another,” Scott said. “I don’t necessarily see LIV as just pure evil for the game of golf.

“Hopefully, we can get beyond people having shots at each other and each organisation can move on with what they want to do. I believe the PGA Tour has to do what’s best for their product and LIV is going to do what is best for their product. I don’t have a problem with either of them.”

But he also shut the door on a potential move to LIV last month when he joined up with Woods’ new made-for-television TMRW golf league.

Woods, who is playing for the first time in 2023 in California this week, lamented the “turbulent” state of world golf but was adamant that a lot of the world’s best were still “aligned” to make the game the best product possible.

“We never would have expected the game of golf to be in this situation, but it is,” he said.

“We have so many of the top players aligned … We need to have our top players understand we need to play around the world and again create the best product possible.”

Scott has more than 370 career starts on the PGA Tour and 14 wins, highlighted by the 2013 Masters. He is also fifth on the tour’s all-time career earnings list at just over $60m.