'LIV and Let Die' chronicles what author Alan Shipnuck calls a battle 'for the soul of golf'

Alan Shipnuck would like it to be known that he doesn't write the inside jacket covers or press releases for his books.

So when Avid Reader Press took the occasion of the release of Shipnuck's latest book on the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf war, "Live and Let Die" to call the veteran golf journalist "Bob Woodward moonlighting on the sports desk," Shipnuck could barely contain his sheepishness.

"Comparing me to Bob Woodward ... that was a bit much," Shipnuck said of the legendary Washington Post investigative journalist who broke the Watergate scandal that eventually drove President Richard Nixon out of office and has since written a series of books on the Gulf War, the Supreme Court and former President Donald Trump. "I probably would have toned that down. The publisher was just having fun. They're good at selling books."

Losing points: LIV players likely to continue dropping down World Golf Ranking

Or maybe it's because Shipnuck is giving them a product that sells.

His latest book chronicles the PGA Tour's battle against efforts to launch a rival golf tour that eventually led to the two-year money and legal war with the Saudia Arabia Public Investment Fund's LIV Golf League and the tenuous — at least for the moment — framework agreement for the PGA Tour and the PIF that may or may not come to finality.

At the heart of the issue is whether Saudia Arabia is "sportswashing" its image as an authoritarian regime with a horrid record of human rights with a worldwide golf tour, and whether the PGA Tour overreacted to the initial startup and indeed missed an early opportunity to partner with the PIF in a way that could have been more palatable than the current framework agreement.

Shipnuck branches out with LIV book

Shipnuck has been a reporter for Sports Illustrated and Golf Magazine (where he broke Dan Jenkins' record of 12 Golf Writers Association first-place writing awards) and penned a series of biographies, the most notable of which was his book on Phil Mickelson published last year.

Shipnuck also has profiled LPGA star Christina Kim and Rich Beem.

Shipnuck has tackled a book on an issue once before, "The Battle for Augusta National," about the resistance of the club to female membership in the early part of the 21st century, despite intense pressure from feminist groups and the media.

But he said this issue was different, a sprawling, multi-layered chronicle about no less than "the soul of golf."

"It was a tremendous challenge, with so many protagonists, so many subplots happening in real-time," he said during a phone interview from his home in Carmel, Calif. "It was like riding a bucking bronco, holding on for dear life."

Plots and subplots and a global cast

Shipnuck had barely finished adding a chapter to the paperback version of his Mickelson book when his publisher asked him to tackle the LIV vs. PGA Tour issue. He said he thought about it for a few seconds before agreeing to it.

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime, once-in-a-career event," he said. "It's the biggest story of the century in golf, with a phenomenal cast of characters: the players, Donald Trump, the Saudi royal family. It turned out to have these giant, Shakespearean themes of betrayal, revenge, money, power, politics and very complex geopolitical issues. The energy around this story was unbelievable."

Mickelson is also a prominent figure in "Liv and Let Die," with his early role with the Premier Golf League, switching to the Saudi venture (despite calling them "scary mother-------."), toying with starting his own tour and still trying to get more money out of the PGA Tour before finally signing in with LIV.

"He was working four sides of the street," Shipnuck said. "Phil is Phil. He's got to be the smartest guy in the room. As long as LIV exists, Phil will have a voice. It won't be easy for him to return to the Tour."

Shipnuck defends use of unnamed sources

In addition, other individuals and their roles behind the scenes were the heads of the two warring factions, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan and LIV Golf CEO Greg Norman, and the top players from last generation of golf, Tiger Woods, Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson and Bryson Dechambeau, and the big-money figures such as Jimmy Dunne, Ed Herlihy, PIF governor and golf nut Yasir Al-Rumayyan (who, it was said, would have started a worldwide professional volleyball league if he had been a volleyball fan).

But Shipnuck also talked to tournament directors, caddies, players' wives, representatives of golf's major governing bodies, agents, swing coaches and money men to get to the heart of the Byzantine affair.

Shipnuck defended his heavy use of unnamed sources and to date, no one has stepped forward publicly to say anything in the book was inaccurate, other than two-time major champion Justin Thomas, who complained more that Shipnuck did not "bring positivity" to golf.

Thomas claimed there was "incorrect information" but didn't offer specifics.

PGA Tour commissioner 'Hockey Jay'

Among the revelations was that Monahan has a nickname at Tour headquarters for his darker side: "Hockey Jay," in reference to his college hockey career but also to moments such as when Monahan feels the Tour is threatened and reacts, as Shipnuck said, "like he's trying to dig the puck out of the corner."

Shipnuck's source told him that Monahan had a chance to listen to an initial Saudi proposal had he responded to a 2021 letter written to him by Majed Al-Sorour, CEO of the Saudi Golf Federation, proposing to be a partner with the PGA Tour with a launch of 14 events "that should be operated on a schedule that is largely complementary to the PGA Tour."

The new league would pay the PGA Tour to handle tournament operations, rules and scoring, and underwrite $25 million purses for the new events.

Monahan didn't respond to the letter or bring it before the Policy Board.

Hiring Greg Norman 'an act of war'

Shipnuck doesn't spare Norman either and said LIV's major mistake was putting Norman in charge in the first place.

Norman has always believed the Tour sank his idea of an eight-tournament "World Tour" for the top 30 players in 1994 (players who took a pass actually followed Arnold Palmer's lead on the damage Norman's plan would do), then started a three-event World Golf Championship series four years later (which caused far less disruption to the Tour schedule and provided access to more than double the number of players under Norman's concept).

As a result, Norman's always had a major bone to pick with the Tour and Shipnuck said it affected the initial resistance against LIV Golf.

"Hiring Greg Norman as the frontman was a declaration of war," Shipnuck said. "He's always been deeply unpopular with the Tour, the players and leadership and he has a unique ability to put his foot in his mouth. He set the tone with a lippy, hyper-aggressive start and he was not easy to root for."

Shipnuck said Norman's personality filtered down the ranks at LIV Golf and he was personally affected, such as the time two beefy security guards threw him out of a Mickelson news conference a a tournament where Shipnuck was credentialed and had every right to attend.

Norman claimed to have no knowledge of the incident. But another reporter posted a picture of the incident on social media -- with Norman in the background, watching Shipnuck getting tossed.

"There were a lot of junkyard dog personalities at LIV," he said. "Always coming at you and barking, It gave them buzz and energy but it sometimes backfired."

The Times-Union sought comments from Monahan and Norman through their respective communications departments about the information and characterizations laid out in the book. The Tour had no comment and LIV Golf gave no response.

Issues in LIV book are polarizing

Shipnuck said the issue seems to have a parallel to the current temperature of politics in the U.S. where there are no shades of gray and emotions run hot.

"This topic was so emotional and so overheated it was symbiotic of American political discourse where you pick a side and defend it to the death," Shipnuck said. "No room for complexity and subtly and nuance. My role was to be a tour guide through a really complicated series of issues and bring to light these incredibly contradictory personalities."

When Shipnuck's book on Mickelson came out, a frequent comment by readers and critics was that they couldn't tell whether Shipnuck liked Mickelson or not.

"Live and Let Die," has a similar tone. Shipnuck has plenty of criticism and praise to go around and in the end, the reader can't divine his allegiances, if there were any in the first place.

"My role was to tell the complete story and let readers make up their minds," he said. "I also wanted to tell them things they don't know. I didn't want to impose my views and opinions and I think I did my job pretty effectively."

Shipnuck said it's difficult to say what will happen with the proposed framework agreement, especially since the U.S, Justice Department and the Senate are nosing around.

"We don't know how the story ends," he said. "Whether the framework gets consummated, blows up or there's a middle ground to bring in private equity money and dilute the Saudis interest and equity. Now you have the Gaza crisis and the Saudis have come out in support of the Palestinians. That might make it harder for Jay Monahan to partner with them. It's another log on the fire."

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Liv Golf vs. PGA Tour battle detailed in latest Alan Shipnuck book