Column: The 4-letter word from Azinger that stirs Ryder Cup
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Ryder Cup is more than six months away, and all it took was a four-letter word from Paul Azinger to get Europe worked up over defending more than just the gold trophy.
Azinger regrets using the word, one he says he slips into speech all the time.
T-H-A-T.
The scene was Sunday at the Honda Classic, where Azinger was working as the lead analyst for NBC Sports. The context was Tommy Fleetwood of England, now the No. 10 player in the world, trying to win for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Fleetwood did not achieve this ranking by accident.
He has five European Tour victories, twice against strong fields in Abu Dhabi, another in the French Open in 2017 at Le Golf National, where a year later he would go 4-1 in the Ryder Cup. He was runner-up to Brooks Koepka at Shinnecock Hills and to Shane Lowry at Royal Portrush.
His best finish at a regular PGA Tour event was a tie for third last year at Bay Hill.
“A lot of pressure here,” Azinger said on the broadcast. “You’re trying to prove to everybody that you’ve got what it takes. These guys know, you can win all you want on that European Tour or in the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA Tour.”
That European Tour. “Bad grammar,” Azinger said Monday. “If I had said ‘the’ European Tour, the whole thing would have been different.”
Maybe.
Either way, that was his lone regret.
“I’ve said this a million times, and it’s how I changed the selection process for the Ryder Cup,” said Azinger, the winning captain in 2008. “The only thing pros choke for are cash and prestige. And the PGA Tour has the most of both.”
Lee Westwood was among those offended, saying on Twitter the comment was condescending to the tour he plays and “disrespects the tournaments you’ve won around the world.”
Thomas Bjorn, the winning Ryder Cup captain in France, said in a tweet that Azinger easily could have said Fleetwood had won around the world, is a world-class player and “now the time has come for him to prove that on the strongest tour in the world.”