Rory Audiobook By Alan Shipnuck cover art

Rory

The Heartache and Triumph of Golf's Most Human Superstar

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Rory

By: Alan Shipnuck
Narrated by: Alan Shipnuck
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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

The definitive biography of the most important, popular, and confounding golfer of the post-Tiger era, masterfully chronicled by Alan Shipnuck, the bestselling author of Phil and LIV and Let Die.

“Shipnuck produces a rich, nuanced picture.” —The Wall Street Journal

Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. He can overwhelm a golf course with his transcendent talent and then, at the next tournament, look utterly lost. McIlroy is golf ’s most eloquent ambassador and a trash-talking troll, sometimes in the same press conference. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. A dozen years ago, McIlroy asked Alan Shipnuck a question about the player he had modeled himself after, Tiger Woods: “What’s he really like?” As McIlroy enters the last act of his highly eventful career, this book is a chance to redirect that old question and try to understand a man of deep complexity and contradictions.

McIlroy’s victory at the 2025 Masters packed such an emotional punch because he is golf’s most vulnerable superstar. Across two decades as a pro he has been the anti-Tiger, letting fans into his heart and into his world. When McIlroy collapsed onto the final green at Augusta National, having at last completed the career Grand Slam, golf fans cried along with him because so many saw themselves in his struggles.

But there is much that the public does not know about McIlroy. With reporting chops honed across thirty years on the golf beat, Shipnuck traces McIlroy’s evolution from a young phenom in Northern Ireland to a game-changing force on and off the golf course. Shipnuck has shadowed McIlroy throughout his career, and he brings to life all the heartbreaks and triumphs with thrilling immediacy and unparalleled access. Tabloid romance, bitter business disputes, divisive politicking—it is all part of this portrait of a man in full.

Shipnuck has long been known as the most fearless writer on the golf beat, and he goes deep into McIlroy’s personal history at a time when the spotlight on Rory has never been brighter. This book is squarely in the tradition of extraordinary golf biographies like Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian’s Tiger Woods and Shipnuck’s own Phil. Biographies & Memoirs Entertainment & Celebrities Golf Sports Heartfelt
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All stars
Most relevant
This was a well researched and well written book about Rory. Learned a bunch about his career I didn’t previously know!

Great Listen

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Rory is such an interesting person and the book had its moments. However, the author's personal bias ruined the book IMO.

Average

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I like that Shipnuck isn’t afraid to write the negatives along with the positives. This is definitely not a fluff piece by any means. The thing is, he’s writing this book about a person. Each person is flawed in their own way and when retelling stories of a person’s life, you tell the good with the bad. I understand that someone of Rory’s stature in the game of golf must have a certain level of abrasiveness. Nothing in this story made me any less of a fan of Rory, but it certainly gave me perspective on who he may be and how he’s gotten to where he is in the game of golf. Alan’s narration is fine throughout though I especially like the way you can almost hear a smirk as he reads his quips and tongue in cheek opinions. Overall good, insightful narrative on one of golf’s greatest champions.

Interesting perspective on stories we’ve mostly heard.

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Interesting but a lot of “copy and paste” from the book LIV or DIE. I enjoyed certain parts, others I literally just skipped forward.

Interesting

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Loved the Phil book by Shipnuck so gave this one a chance, but it is beyond boring. Its a recount of all of his wins, the leaderboard, highlights of tournaments, etc. Nothing newsworthy, groundbreaking or even interesting. The only "interviews" are basically requotes of articles or interviews that were put into the book. Love Rory's career and story and was hoping I'd get some stories I didn't already know or expect, but that was definitely not the case.

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