Adam Scott has a full slate as part of the Saudi negotiations over LIV Golf and inside the ropes

HONOLULU — Adam Scott is back in Kapalua and back in the top 20 of the world rankings, and it’s a wonder he’s managed so much. This coincided with his first full year on the PGA Tour board, and it was a lot.

The new PGA Tour Enterprises received $1.5 billion in financing from Strategic Sports Group and created a plan for players to receive stock. The first major change in eligibility in more than 40 years has seen just 100 FedEx Cup players hold their cards this year, with the field size set to shrink in 2026.

All the while, the affable Aussie is part of a PGA Tour Enterprises transaction subcommittee with Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy negotiating with Saudi backers LIV Golf to become a minority investor.

And how is that going?

“Same as always. It’s bullshit,” Scott said in the hallway below the Kapalua clubhouse, more matter-of-fact than showing any level of irritation. “It’s not worth talking about. Obviously it’s so complex and when the government department (justice) is involved, I think we’re sitting back and just waiting for them.”

He laughed as he added, “If the PGA Tour is their priority, we’re in trouble.”

By all accounts, the PGA Tour and the Public Investment Fund are closer than ever to a deal, and it wouldn’t be surprising if the deal was announced by The Players Championship in March. But much depends on the Ministry of Justice, with whom the tour was in contact at every step of the negotiations.

Further clouding this issue is the change of administration in the White House in two weeks. Beyond that, perhaps the biggest question for golf fans is: Even if the PGA Tour reaches a deal with the PIF, what does that mean for golf’s great divide? What happens to LIV?

“There should be more movement soon,” Scott said. “But it is very difficult to put all this together, certainly from the competition schedule. That’s a lot. Someone has to compromise their product. I generally don’t like it. Who will do it? A little bit of everyone? That’s not good. Anyone a lot? That person will not be happy.

“That’s really tricky.”

LIV begins its fourth season next month in Saudi Arabia. He completed his 14-tournament schedule Tuesday by adding stops at Trump Doral near Miami, Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Virginia, Chapultepec in Mexico City and a course in Michigan that opened just last year.

The Sports Business Journal and more recently The Daily Telegraph reported advanced talks for LIV to land a TV deal with Fox, though the network may need more than 14 tournaments to break even. IMG owns the international media rights to the Asian tour, which LIV invested heavily in, creating the International Series. Bryson DeChambeau will be among those playing in India later this month.

Next on the PGA Tour’s agenda is what to do about the FedEx Cup champion format and if the Tour Championship needs another facelift.

The wheels started turning in August, mostly thanks to television, to find a more convincing end to the season. Scott, it should be noted, was the last winner of the Tour Championship in 2006 before the FedEx Cup era began.

He liked the way it was then – the top 30 players on the PGA Tour for the season, no one sneaking into East Lake by having one big week at the right time. He calls the Tour Championship a “legacy” tournament that “got lost in the wash.”

One of the early ideas was to crown a regular-season champion after the first FedEx Cup playoff event, and that player and the winner of the BMW Championship would have a bye in a matchup format at East Lake. The track would be filled throughout the weekend with those eliminated playing for positions all the way up to 30th place.

Competition without real consequences is a tough sell.

The idea to return to the Tour Championship, which would begin on Wednesday with the top players advancing to the final day to play for all $25 million, is gaining traction.

Regardless, players seem divided on what would work and what wouldn’t. Management are involved – Patrick Cantlay, also the board’s director of players, confirmed that “we’ve thought about some ideas” but nothing definitive.

Scott will ultimately have the say because any change requires board approval. His plate keeps getting bigger, even as he chases more goals in golf, he feels he hasn’t achieved it.

He turns 45 in July. It would be easy to wish he had never signed up for this, except that he felt a sense of duty and is proud of what the players on the board have done – not so much the specific items, but the process and the representation.

“I’m more than happy to say … six guys are fighting like hell for groups of players – all of them,” Scott said. “I really think it was a pretty balanced group of guys that had a lot of disagreements about things, but really came to a consensus on it all.

“We reminded each other what we are here to do. We’re not here to run a business. We are here to ensure that membership has the best chance. “I think they did a good job.”