
BOOK REVIEWS
Interest
Liv and Let Die
Alan Shipnuck
We Rate:
BOOK SYNOPSIS

OUR REVIEW
This is the inside story of the golf war that is still going on between the PGA Tour and LIV Golf from one of the journalists that has sources from inside both camps as the cold war lingers on, with there being no end in sight to when golf will come together again.
The book traces the story back to the 1990s when a certain Greg Norman first floated the idea of a global tour that back then was never able to gain much traction. As the golf landscape seemed to coast along and become more and more USA centric, the game needed a revamp to attract new and younger fans to the sport and by the 2020s the sport was prime for that to take place.
All the info about how the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league got going is in there including there willingness to be a part of the golf ecosystem but getting well and truly blanked, how the forerunners of LIV Golf were blindsided by the Saudi Arabian backed PIF, owners of LIV Golf who effectively ran with their plan, and how the PGA Tour responded to the challenge of their status as the pre-eminent tour in Golf.
As ever, the most fascinating part of the book comes in the recruitment of the players that moved across to play on LIV, some of the biggest names in golf including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau.
Everything is in their from the start, the reactions from around the golfing world, the thought process of the players recruited, the response to the challenge of LIV from the PGA, and crucially not forgetting the morality and ethical issues that still remain at the forefront of the sport and Saudi Arabia's questionable Human Rights record.
A brilliant book that still very much remains relevant today and is a must for any golf fan that enjoys the game but also the geo-political aspects of sport today!



