Fire Drill 093: LIV and Let Die
With Alan Shipnuck and Michael Bamberger
In this freewheeling conversation, Michael Bamberger gets the story-behind-the-story from Alan Shipnuck about his new book chronicling the battle for the soul of professional golf. They discuss the challenges of reporting a controversial, evolving story, delve into the larger themes of the book and dish on the brand name protagonists.
In 1994, Alan wrote his first cover story for Sports Illustrated as a 21 year-old intern, and in the ensuing quarter-century he typed two dozen more. He is the author of eight books, including best-sellers Bud, Sweat & Tees; The Swinger (with Michael Bamberger); and Phil. Shipnuck has won 13 first-place awards in the annual Golf Writers Association of America writing contest, breaking the record of Dan Jenkins, a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Alan lives in Carmel, Cal.
Great interview–you guys are the best. One outcome that I didn’t read in the excerpt nor hear in the interview is around the money LIV paid to the golfers. Even those on the lowest rung of the ladder got life changing money to join LIV. But, what about those who turned LIV down and stayed with the PGA? What plans are there to make them whole, or is that just ,’dem breaks?
Thanks,
Jim
It is a bit strange Alan that you say HE for Yassir, who is not actually a prince, and not use that for MBS who is a prince with his father’s king’s powers.
And as I wrote here before: do you buy into all this LIV spending is to grow the game in that kingdom? The Saudi International is being held for several years now, with almost the same golfers attending, and I doubt the number of golfers there has grown a lot. I really hope for the Saudi people that they recover at least a part of the billions that Yassir has poured in LIV. Their money is being thrown around because of the golf obsession of just one man.
pity
I used to think Shipnuck had an agenda, but I must say this new book is pure reporting – he’s not taking sides, which is very refreshing.