Alan Shipnuck’s New Book About LIV Golf Under Fire from All Sides

Alan Shipnuck is one of the higher-profile golf writers. As a former Sports Illustrated and Golf Magazine writer, Shipnuck has been able to get access to a world that many of us dream of, but few (if any) of us will ever witness or, more relevant here, uncover the truth of.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This week, Shipnuck released his newest book, LIV and Let Die, which details the anarchy that emerged when the Saudi Public Interest Fund (PIF) decided to threaten the PGA Tour and DP World Tour’s stronghold on professional golf. While LIV has become a hot-button issue in itself, LIV and Let Die uncovers much more than what we know, discussing some of the unfavorable truths that many individuals, including professional golfers, would prefer to keep secrets. For example:

• Tiger Woods is reportedly the man responsible for having LIV Golf’s Phil Mickelson blocked from attending the Champions Dinner ahead of the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews last summer.
• At the 2022 J.P. McManus Pro-Am in Ireland, which was attended by many of the recently-announced LIV golfers, Brooks Koepka supposedly stated, “Fuck all of those country club kids who talk shit about me,” he said, referring to the likes of Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and others. “You think I give a fuck what they think? You think I care what people say about me? I just had three surgeries, and I’m supposed to turn down $130 million? I grew up with nothing. After signing that contract, the first person I called was my mom. We both cried.”

It’s obvious that these things are unfavorable, and professionals would prefer to keep them out of the public purview. But one has to wonder, is any—or most even most—of this factually accurate? I mean, how does Shipnuck keep having these breaking issues fall into his lap? Thus, one has to ask whether the book actually premised on truths “enhanced” with a dash of Hollywood liberties, like those taken in films like The Wolf of Wall Street (among many others, the in-office dwarf-tossing competition never occurred in real life).

And the latter may seem a little closer to reality. Despite LIV and Let Die only being available for a matter of days, the book and Shipnuck have both faced considerable scrutiny and criticism from all sides.

Koepka’s mother, Denise Jakows, quickly took to X (formerly Twitter) to disclaim Shipnuck’s false take.

Just to clarify, the only time my son @BKoepka and I cried together was when he was born. He was testing lungs for the first time; I was glad the pregnancy ordeal was over. End of story.

— denise jakows (@DJakows) October 4, 2023

Justin Thomas—who could have elected to let things ride after seeing the Koepka “country club” quote–echoed Jakows’ frustration with Shipnuck, stating that Shipnuck needs to stop “mak[ing] money bashing guys, earning zero trust, with a lot of incorrect information.” Indeed, over the past few years, journalism has come under heavy fire as “reporters” continue to publish stories that appear to prioritize clicks and views over the truth, resulting in backlash and irreparable harm caused to people’s images and livelihood (just look at Trevor Bauer).

I’d like to speak on behalf of a lot of Tour players and say we’re sick of @AlanShipnuck doing what he does. Bring positivity and good stories to help grow the game of golf, not try and make money bashing guys, earning zero trust, with a lot of incorrect information. Ridiculous

— Justin Thomas (@JustinThomas34) October 5, 2023

On that point, Thomas claimed he’s speaking on behalf of “a lot of Tour players,” so it stands that many people have had enough of the tabloid-focused pieces from Shipnuck that enrich himself at the expense of others.

It goes without saying that more commentary will come out over the following days (and weeks) as people read and comment on LIV and Let Die. Given the attention the book has already received, it seems natural that sources and those involved will come forward and give their takes on how accurately Shipnuck told their stories (I’m counting on Phil Mickelson to have some kind words for Shipnuck in the coming days).

That said, I’m not ignorant of the fact that many professionals and industry executives, like Jay Monahan, will say anything at this point to save face. But as another old saying goes, “There are three sides to every story:  your side, my side, and the truth.” So while what objectively happened will likely remain unconfirmed, we can only guess what actually happened is somewhere in the grey.

Cover Image via Golf Magazine