Getty Image / Maddie Meyer
Author Alan Shipnuck has a new book about LIV Golf coming out later this month and 2-time Major Champion Justin Thomas is already tired of hearing about it after just one day.
The first excerpts from Shipnuck’s ‘LIV And Let Die’ were published on Wednesday. It included some interesting stories about Brooks Koepka signing his contract and a contentious (and profane) argument between Paul Casey and Jamie Weird.
While still on vacation in Italy, 2-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas hopped on X (formerly known as Twitter) to blast a story about Rory McIlroy from an ‘anonymous former Ryder Cup teammate’ of Rory’s. That story was shared by Kyle Porter of CBS Sports:
Here’s one on Rory from @AlanShipnuck’s new book. pic.twitter.com/GMmc0gDmPU
— Kyle Porter (@KylePorterCBS) October 4, 2023
Justin Thomas hopped in the replies to say “I’d like to speak on behalf of a lot of Tour players and say we’re sick of Alan Shipnuck 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.”
It didn’t stop there, Justin Thomas had more to say
After seeing JT’s reply, one person hopped in his mentions and wrote “There are plenty of writers out there who put out puff pieces act like fan boys when it comes to someone like Rory for example. That’s not journalism. The fans, like me who’ve been a loyal fan of the tour for close to 5 decades, want to know all the sides, good and bad.”
It is a valid criticism. The last thing needed in media is more puff pieces that serve no purpose other than PR. And Justin Thomas replied to that and said “For sure. Not saying that everybody is perfect, we’re far from! Haha. Just frustrating when it’s time after time from unnamed sources commenting about guys bashing them. I do get it’s a part of it.”
In response to another person saying “negativity gets clicks” Justin Thomas wrote “it does, the sad world we live in these days.” He’s not wrong. I see this across the industry. There are whole media organizations that exist on manufacturing outrage out of nothing everyday. They know what they’re doing. Alan Shipnuck is not doing that.
Brooks Koepka and Alan Shipnuck Respond To JT
Brooks Koepka chimed in with “And LIV players…” echoing the same sentiment as Justin Thomas.
Alan Shipnuck later responded to JT saying “What JT wants is p.r,, or hagiography, not journalism. I’ve written many feel-good stories about golfers and the game, but scrutiny and criticism is sometimes warranted. LlV v. Tour has been incredibly divisive and I captured that. It’s not my role to whitewash things.”
The impending PGA Tour-LIV Golf merger came about very quickly. Prior to that, the LIV Golf-PGA Tour split was the biggest story in the world of golf.
This book will be fascinating for many reasons, above all though are the behind-the-scenes stories. Shipnuck isn’t manufacturing outrage or trafficking in negativity, he’s simply a vessel to share the stories of what transpired with the LIV-PGA split.