Rory McIlroy’s heart was broken by the PGA Tour’s shock merger with LIV Golf, claims award-winning journalist Alan Shipnuck.
Ahead of the release of his latest book, ‘LIV and Let Die,’ which details the ugly fallout from golf’s bitter civil war between the PGA Tour and the Saudi breakaway, Shipnuck branded McIlroy an idealist before hitting out at other players who have already complained about his upcoming release.
Shipnuck, who previously worked Sports Illustrated and Golf magazine before launching his Fire Pit Collective website, delved deeper into the Northern Irishman’s outspoken support of the PGA Tour in the fight against LIV Golf – and ultimate betrayal – ahead of the book’s release.
McIlroy had been the most outspoken PGA Tour loyalist and, therefore, one of the most blindsided by the tour’s U-turn decision to merge with LIV Golf’s Saudi backer, PIF, in June.
Shipnuck claims the shock merger taught Europe’s Ryder Cup hero a lesson about the real world, while revealing that McIlroy’s strong stance left his fellow professionals divided.
Rory McIlroy’s heart reportedly was broken by the PGA Tour’s shock merger with LIV Golf
Alan Shipnuck is releasing a book detailing the fallout from the LIV Golf-PGA Tour battle
‘All the PGA Tour loyalists value and respect Rory for his advocacy,’ Shipnuck told The Times. ‘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.
‘There is a great divide on how Rory is viewed. I respect Rory because he was willing to say out loud what a lot of people were thinking and he showed a lot of courage and conviction. Unfortunately for Rory, he is also an idealist and he thought he was fighting for something larger than himself.
‘Then the money guys came in — Jimmy Dunne and Ed Herlihy [PGA Tour directors] — and they completely sold him out and kind of broke his heart. Rory learnt a hard lesson about the real world. Idealism only goes so far and money always wins.
‘Jimmy Dunne is a friend and adviser to Rory going back a long way. He got Rory’s dad into Seminole Golf Club, one of the inner sanctums of golf — Gerry McIlroy was a former bartender and that does not fit the normal Seminole member profile. That was all Jimmy Dunne and yet it was also Jimmy Dunne, in secret, who cold-bloodedly crushed Rory’s hopes and dreams with this [framework] deal.’
McIlroy’s fate was made even more heartbreaking by the reported barbs from his fellow professionals.
Shipnuck claimed that an anonymous Ryder Cup player said: ‘F*** Rory. I’m so sick of hearing how he’s some kind of hero who is saving golf. He’s bought and paid for like everybody else. It’s just his money is coming from the other side.
‘Rory’s fighting so hard for the [PGA] Tour because he wants to preserve his income streams, not because he cares about the Tour itself. That he is being held up as some sort of savior on Twitter and by all the fanboys with their shitty podcasts tells you how little people really understand what’s going on.’
Shipnuck claimed Jimmy Dunne (pictured) ‘crushed McIlroy’s hopes and dreams’
Shipnuck’s snippets from behind-the-scenes of golf’s nasty divorce, including the jibe from the Ryder Cup player and a previous claim that Brooks Koepka directed an ‘f*** all those country club kids’ barb towards Justin Thomas and co., have drawn the ire of some players.
‘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,’ Thomas wrote on X. ‘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.’ Koepka added: ‘And LIV players.’
But Shipnuck has brushed off their complaints, calling out players for wanting fame without the scrutiny that comes with it.
‘That was so interesting and enlightening,’ he said in response to Thomas’s spiel. ‘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.’
He also hit back at their claims that he is profiting for ‘bashing’ players, pulling on heartstrings in a similar way to Koepka’s attempts to justify his LIV Golf defection.
‘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 apologize for that to Justin Thomas. It’s never enough for these players. It’s a bottomless pit.’
The author also brushed off complaints from Brooks Koepka (left) and Justin Thomas (right)
According to Shipnuck’s book, 33-year-old Koepka is said to have offered a heartfelt explanation from jumping ship from the PGA Tour.
‘“You think I give a f*** what they think? You think I care what people say about me? I just had three surgeries, and I’m supposed to turn down $130 million?”
‘”I grew up with nothing. After signing that contract, the first person I called was my mom. We both cried.”’
‘LIV and Let Die: the Inside Story of the War Between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf’ will be released Tuesday ahead of LIV Gold heading to Trump National Doral in Miami later this week for the finale of its second season.
