PGA Tour Winner Fired From Radio Show Over Women's Basketball Comments

Former PGA Tour winner Mark Lye has been fired from his SiriusXM radio show for comments made about the women's NBA (WNBA). The American was speaking about the WNBA on Saturday's 'The Scorecard' show, where he said, "I’ll shoot myself than watch that."

“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said in a snippet posted by a Twitter user. "You couldn’t pay me to watch, you really couldn’t. Because I just, I couldn’t relate at all. It’s kind of like, you know, if you’re a basketball player, and I’m not trashing anybody please, don’t take it the wrong way, but I saw some highlights of ladies’ basketball. Man, is there a gun in the house? I’ll shoot myself than watch that.

“You know, I love watching the men’s basketball. I love watching the men’s golf. I never used to like watching ladies’ golf. But I will tell you this. I’ve been up close watching these ladies play because I used to have a big function every year called the Lucas Cup and I’d have LPGA players and PGA Tour players.”

Lyle's co-host then said: “Good luck getting some WNBA stars to come play for you.”

“I know, I know,” to which Lye replied. “I’m off their list. I’m sorry about that.”

In a statement to Golf.com, Lyle confirmed he had been fired. “I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment,” he said.

Lyle also took to Twitter to respond to the controversy by denying he was sexist. "The fact that I can’t relate to WNBA does not make me sexist in any way," he wrote. "All you haters should listen to the whole segment, where I completely glorified womens golf, which I love to cover. Thanks for listening." 

Lye won the 1983 Bank of Boston Classic on the PGA Tour as well as the 1976 Colgate Champion of Champions on the PGA Tour Australasia. His best Major finish came at the 1984 Masters, where he placed T6th.