'These Pro Golfers Want Money And Fame But Don't Want The Scrutiny' - Author Alan Shipnuck Hits Back At Critics

Journalist and author Alan Shipnuck has responded to players who have attacked his recent work, saying, “These pro golfers want money and fame but don’t want the scrutiny”.

Shipnuck’s latest book, LIV and Let Die: The Inside Story of the War Between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf, is available to buy on October 17, although a 3,000-word excerpt was released earlier this month.

That teaser included comments about the battle for supremacy in professional golf over the last two-and-a-half years, and a couple of Tour professionals in particular were quick to make comment.

In response to part of the book where a former Ryder Cup teammate is critical of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas spoke up “on behalf of a lot of Tour players” to say they are “sick” of Shipnuck “doing what he does.”

Using X, he also said, “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“

Meanwhile, LIV golfer Brooks Koepka, who was featured in the excerpt with an expletive-riddled take on “country club kids who talk (expletive) about me,” allegedly referring to the likes of Thomas, Jordan Spieth and others, responded to Thomas' comment with, “And LIV players...“

The Fire Pit Collective writer defended those comments at the time, saying on X that Thomas wants “PR or hagiography, not journalism” – and he’s been defending himself again on the eve of his new book’s release, this time in an interview with Rick Broadbent for The Times.

“That was so interesting and enlightening,” he says of Thomas’s response. “We are in the most volatile moment in the history of professional golf, and there’s been two years of finger-pointing and name-calling, and his critique is I’m not writing more positive stories. I didn’t create this situation, I’m just recording it. These pro golfers want money and fame but don’t want the scrutiny.”

In response to the allegation that Shipnuck is profiting from “bashing guys”, he says: “Players become so voracious and if anybody else tries to get a few crumbs you’re a bad guy. I have four kids to put through college and I write books for a living. I don’t think I need to apologise for that to Justin Thomas. It’s never enough for these players. It’s a bottomless pit.”

Shipnuck also tells Broadbent how there “is a great divide on how Rory [McIlroy] is viewed”. The Ulsterman has been vocal on where he stands with LIV since it started, and he has found himself in a war of words on several occasions.

“All the PGA Tour loyalists value and respect Rory for his advocacy,” says Shipnuck. “He put himself on the front line, but on the LIV side there is a lot of bitterness because Rory made it intensely personal. He became kind of a leading troll and took a lot of shots at individuals.”