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About The Book

'Shipnuck cuts to the intrigue of an acrimonious story that still twists and turns with snake-like flexibility' –​ The Times

'A terrific read' – Sports Illustrated

Alan Shipnuck, the New York Times bestselling author of Phil, returns with a major new work of insider reporting on the battle for the soul of professional golf between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-funded LIV Golf League.

Over the past two years, professional golf has been at war, and Alan Shipnuck is our most trusted correspondent. Following closely on the heels of his New York Times bestselling sensation, Phil, Shipnuck turns to LIV Golf’s controversial – and belligerent – storming of the professional golf world.

In LIV and Let Die, Shipnuck delivers the inside story in real time, with fly-on-the-wall reporting from the yachts where LIV was hatched and within the corridors of power as the PGA Tour flailed to fend off the threat. Shipnuck has travelled seamlessly between both tours – having countless conversations with players, caddies, CEOs, agents, financiers, lawyers, flaks, fans, and Instagramming wives – to deliver a no-holds-barred account of the most chaotic moment in golf history. Anyone who has a stake in professional golf lined up for an interview with Shipnuck – because they knew everyone else was talking to him, too.The disruption to an old, proud sport was largely conducted in the shadows, but LIV and Let Die delivers numerous revelations about what really happened, and why. It also provides the previously unknown background and crucial context to understand the armistice between the tours that shocked the world in June 2023.

Long known as the most fearless writer on the golf beat, Shipnuck has delivered another hotly anticipated book packed with juicy nuggets and in-the-room-where-it-happened action... think Bob Woodward moonlighting on the sports desk. LIV and Let Die is the definitive account of the biggest (non-Tiger) golf story this century and a lively page-turner that in places reads like a spy thriller.

About The Author

Frances Shipnuck

Alan Shipnuck wrote his first cover story for Sports Illustrated in 1994 as a 21-year-old intern. He is the author of eight books, including the US bestsellers Bud, Sweat & Tees and The Swinger (with Michael Bamberger). He is a partner at the golf media company the Fire Pit Collective, where all of his writing, podcasts and video storytelling can now be found. Shipnuck lives in Carmel, California.

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK (October 10, 2024)
  • Length: 352 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781398530492

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Raves and Reviews

‘Shipnuck cuts to the intrigue of an acrimonious story that still twists and turns with snake-like flexibility. . . . You can be sure that the leading figures on all sides will be keen to see what is in his book’

– The Times

A terrific read . . . Shipnuck takes you inside the rooms where decisions were made . . . His reporting is exhaustive, his attention to detail fresh and unfrivolous, but what makes this publication so appealing is its pace. It sticks and moves like a young Cassius Clay, covering the angles without getting ponderous or cumbersome

– John Hawkins, Sports Illustrated

‘It’s a terrific history, and even if you think you know everything about the LIV Golf melodrama – indeed, even if you've been immersed in it far too long – you’ll learn something. . . I flew through it in one long train ride . . . The book is gossipy as hell, and the gossip is fun, and it’s absolutely going to be one of those texts that people use to rail against as the Fall of Journalism while they secretly consume it in greedy chunks. Shipnuck, for all his storytelling ability – hell, as part of his storytelling ability – knows how to dish out the sugar . . . The writing is classic Shipnuck – quippy, sometimes funny and always most concerned with pushing the story forward. The pace is brisk; he will never bore you

– Shane Ryan, Golf Digest

‘Sensational . . . Shipnuck has artfully and entertainingly pieced together the story of LIV’s emergence . . . The fresh reporting in LIV and Let Die is infused with Shipnuck interpretations to make for a fantastic read. Don’t be fooled by some of the early narratives as a purely salacious read. The book could easily become the basis for a sports business class and a textbook on how not to handle a disruptive threat’

– Geoff Shackelford, The Quadrilateral

‘There are good writers who can’t report and terrific reporters who can’t write, but Alan Shipnuck is a master of both the art and science of sports journalism. A workhorse who doubles as a wordsmith in a medium compromised by so many factors in recent years, Shipnuck’s ninth book, LIV and Let Die, is a comprehensive chronicle of the most scurrilous conflict in golf historya slugfest full of blood, sweat and fears since it invaded public consciousness in the spring of 2022’

– Sports Illustrated

‘Alan Shipnuck’s latest book, LIV and Let Die, may be his best book yet—which is saying something . . . This book, which provides a history lesson on the last fifty-plus years of the professional game, will be enjoyed by casual and non-golf fans alike but there’s so much new reporting and colorful, fresh anecdotes for even the most ardent golf fan and industry lifers. . . . A page-turner’

– Golfweek

‘It’s a compelling read, littered with so much profanity that it sometimes reads more like a screenplay for a Quentin Tarantino movie than a book about a traditionally genteel sport’

– Don Riddell, CNN Sport

‘dives into the deep rough of the schism between the established and rebel tours, deftly avoiding the bunkers and taking the reader through to the smooth green of understanding what has been going on'

– The Times, Books of the Year

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