Mark Lye, a former PGA Tour winner turned golf commentator, said Sunday he was fired from his role as a SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio host over comments he made a day earlier about the WNBA.
In an email to GOLF.com, a SiriusXM spokesperson confirmed that Lye, 69, “will no longer be hosting.”
Lye’s comments came on Saturday’s episode of The Scorecard, during a discussion of the LPGA. A Twitter user captured and shared 59 seconds of the conversation:
“You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago,” Lye said. “… 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.”
At this point, a co-host interjected: “Good luck getting some WNBA stars to come play for you.”
“Yeah, I know, I know,” Lye said. “I’m off their list. I’m sorry about that.”
Reached on Sunday by GOLF.com, Lye said, “I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment.”
Lye also posted this explanation to Twitter: “The fact that I can’t relate to WNBA does not make me sexist in any way. All you haters should listen to the whole segment, where I completely glorified womens golf, which I love to cover. Thanks for listening.”
On Sunday afternoon, the Saturday episode of The Scorecard was no longer available on the SiriusXM website.
Lye played on the PGA Tour from 1977 to 1995, notching 41 top 10s; his sole victory came at the Bank of Boston Classic, in 1983. From 2003 to 2008, he played on the PGA Tour Champions, with one top-10 finish.
Lye also worked as an analyst for Golf Channel from 1994 to 2012, according to his LinkedIn page.