Tag: PGA Tour Radio

Lucas Glover is latest pro to host his own show on Sirius XM PGA Tour Radio

The Lucas Glover Show will premiere December 6 at 8 pm ET.

In his social media profile, PGA Tour veteran Lucas Glover lists the Oscar Wilde quote as a mantra of sorts: “Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.”

Glover, the 2009 U.S. Open champion who had a resurgence this season with two victories in consecutive weeks on the PGA Tour, lives up to Wilde’s words.

In his latest effort to be himself, Glover is joining the SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio channel. The six-time Tour winner will host The Lucas Glover Show, which will premiere December 6 at 8 pm ET. The hour-long program will air regularly throughout the year exclusively on SiriusXM.

“It’s an excellent platform for me to have a voice in the game and reach golf fans all over the country,” said Glover in a press release. “Having my own show is something I’ve actually thought about doing since I won the U.S. Open. Now, having experienced all I have through my career, I’m ready and looking forward to sharing lots of stories, lessons learned and opinions on our game.”

Glover, 44, turned professional in 2001 after graduating from Clemson. In 2009 Glover won the U.S. Open at the Bethpage Black Course by a two-stroke margin, in the process becoming one of just a handful of players to win the U.S. Open after having to play in a sectional qualifier.

Glover is one of the Tour’s more introspective and reflective pros, an affable Southern gentleman who is never shy with his opinions. Just last month, he showed off his personality and his ability to touch on a wide-range of topics during a lengthy Q&A with Golfweek.

The SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio channel is available to listeners nationwide on the SiriusXM radios in their cars (channel 92) and on the SiriusXM app.

Roger Maltbie dishes on his career with NBC, plans for the future and why he’d be shocked if LIV Golf comes calling

Maltbie said his age and a past spat with Greg Norman may keep him from getting a call from LIV Golf.

“Welcome to the graveyard of old fired golf announcers.”

That was the playful introduction for Roger Maltbie earlier this week when the former PGA Tour player and NBC on-course reporter joined Gary McCord and Drew Stoltz on their SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio show.

Golfweek was first to report last week that Maltbie and Gary Koch won’t be returning to NBC in 2023 after the network told the pair of longtime broadcasters it wanted to “refresh” the team for the future.

Maltbie was originally told 2021 would be his last year before Jim “Bones” Mackay left his on-air role with the network to caddie for Justin Thomas. He returned as an on-course reporter for 2022 but wasn’t renewed for 2023. A five-time winner on the PGA Tour, Maltbie, 71, had been covering golf for NBC Sports since 1992.

“Does it hurt when you hear the words? Sure. ‘You’re not in our plans.’ Thirty-one years I spent with NBC. ‘You’re no longer in our plans and you’re not part of our future. We need to go young,’ which is a nice way of saying you’re old, and I understand all that,” said Maltbie. “But you know, there’s hurt feelings and there’s also a lot of gratitude. They were great to me for 31 years. I don’t have a complaint.

“I absolutely love the guys I worked with. I will miss watching the greatest players in the world play great,” he continued. “My role was to walk with the final group on Sunday, so I was watching the best players in the world playing their best and I still get a kick out of it to this day, even though I can’t do it anymore. I sure like watching it and I’ll miss all that. I will.”

If anyone knows how Maltbie and Koch feel, it’s McCord. In Oct. 2019, he and Peter Kostis, two longtime members of the CBS golf team, were not renewed for 2020. Both were told by the network that things were getting “stale.”

“I would have liked to have kept going but it’s a funny thing, the phases your career goes through over the course of 31 years,” Maltbie explained. “When I first started, hell, I knew every player, I was a player still. I was one of them and I was doing TV. I knew the names of their wives and the names of your kids and competed with and against them. There was a real familiarity. Then you go through a period where they know who you are and they know you played and so on and so forth, and then you meet a new bunch of young kids and you go on and then the later years, most of those kids don’t even know I played golf for a living, really to be honest with you. There’s a timespan to everything.”

Maltbie said he’s mulling over calling some PGA Tour Champions events for the network, noting how he’ll miss the adrenaline rush that comes with live TV. But what about a hypothetical chance with LIV Golf?

“I guess at this age, at 71, you never say never, but that would shock me beyond belief,” said Maltbie. “Greg Norman and I had sort of a spat you might call it years back, and I doubt that I would get a call from LIV, let’s put it that way.”

The international travel and 14-event schedule would be something to consider for Maltbie if the call did come, and he’d have “no compunction about going to work for somebody that’s willing to pay you a salary.”

“This LIV thing, it’s kind of crazy. There’s so much hypocrisy involved in it,” Maltbie said. “I don’t begrudge any player that accepted that money or decided to do that. That’s still a decision that is 1,000 percent their right. I don’t like the idea that they think they could do that and play the PGA Tour. I don’t follow that, but I’m not upset with it.”

“There are people that have this moral outrage about accepting money from the Saudi Investment Fund and it’s like, really? All the business that our government does with Saudi Arabia, and the largest corporations in America, so many of them do some business with the Saudis. Why all of a sudden are golfers the moral compass of the world? I don’t understand that. So I have no problem with those guys taking that money.”

With Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund as its sole funder, LIV Golf has long been criticized as a way for the Kingdom to sportswash its human rights record. Saudi Arabia has been accused of wide-ranging human rights abuses, including politically motivated killings, torture, forced disappearances and inhumane treatment of prisoners. Not to mention members of the royal family and Saudi government were accused of involvement in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist.

It’s still to be determined when and where golf fans will see Maltbie in the future. Whether its on a Champions tour or LIV broadcast – maybe he’ll pull a McCord and help with The Match? – the longtime voice will surely be missed by many.

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Former SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio host Mark Lye on fallout from WNBA comments: ‘It’s really cancel culture’

“Now as I look back on it, it was a hurtful thing,” said Lye.

Mark Lye does not use Twitter very much, but he believes a movement on the social media platform led to the firing from his PGA Tour Radio show Sunday by SiriusXM.

“It’s really cancel culture,” Lye said on Tuesday.

During a weekend episode of The Scorecard, Lye, 69, said: “You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago … 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.”

Lye said Tuesday that when the five-minute segment went to break he wanted to apologize and talked to people involved with the show.

“‘Guys, I’m not feeling good about this,’ he said to those involved with the show after it went to break, ‘I need to make an apology to all WNBA fans,’ which I did.

Mark Lye responds on Twitter

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.”

“I thought it was case closed,” Lyle said.

But Twitter user @jalawsons had picked up the clip with the controversial comment and shared it, and it started gaining traction.

The online comments on the social media platform created a firestorm, with many saying Lye was against women’s sports or was a sexist, and needed to be fired.

One of the quote tweets from someone who shared the clip:

“Just because no one knows who you are, Mark Lye, doesn’t mean you can go around spewing your mouth like this (on national radio) and think we won’t ruin your life. I am not one to encourage cancel culture but… Hugs and kisses to the grave, Mark!”

Some below that comment defended or agreed with Lye’s comment, and some did not.

Eventually, the original tweet of the clip was taken down by Twitter (“This Tweet violated the Twitter Rules” it now says where the original tweet is located).

“In a way to glorify women’s golf I made a comparison by comparing it to another sport that maybe isn’t so successful,” Lye said Tuesday. “Now as I look back on it, it was a hurtful thing.”

“In a way to glorify women’s golf I made a comparison by comparing it to another sport that maybe isn’t so successful,” Lye said Tuesday. “Now as I look back on it, it was a hurtful thing.”

Lye said 10 minutes before the Saturday night show he was told he couldn’t go on because of what people on Twitter were saying regarding the clip. Sunday morning, he was fired.

“The reason (the comments on Twitter were) blowing up is they took the most unflattering part of that sound bite and they cut it off in a spot that buttressed their point of view, which is that men hate women’s sports or Mark hates women’s sports,” he said.

Lye said the segment of the show talked about comparing other sports, or within sports. For example, how baseball players would feel differently who were from the New York Yankees, who have one of the highest payrolls and are among the most popular franchise, versus those in Kansas City, which has one of the lowest payrolls and don’t have the attendance or popularity that the Yankees do.

“We were cross-referencing sports,” he said. “We talked about baseball. We talked about football. We talked about some of the tough things facing those sports, the challenges, and the challenges that the PGA Tour has against (Saudi Arabia’s Super) Golf League.

“That’s what made it germane. That’s why I talked about the WNBA. It just didn’t come out of nowhere. I happened to watch WNBA highlights on ESPN. I saw nobody in the stands. I said, ‘Wow, that’s a problem.’ I was trying to make the point that the LPGA is a living, thriving, credit to women’s sports in general, and that the WNBA was at the other side of the spectrum.

“I love watching ladies tennis, ladies golf, ladies volleyball. I can’t stand men’s volleyball. There are certain ladies sports that I really like watching. I like fast pitch (softball).”

Lye played on the PGA Tour and PGA Tour Champions, then was an analyst for the Golf Channel. He joined SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio in 2015, and originally did a show called “Time To Let It Fly” on Wednesdays in addition to weekend pregame and postgame shows.

“They want us to be somewhat interesting,” Lye said of the weekend radio shows. “We’re on the air for a two-hour show. They pay me to be who I am and that’s why they hired me. I’m not the most politically correct guy in the world, but I try to make things interesting for the common golf fan.”

Lye made the choice himself to end the “Let It Fly” show at the end of last year but still do the weekend shows.

“I can’t let it fly anymore,” he said Tuesday about explaining to his boss why he wanted to stop the Wednesday show.  “I don’t want to get fired. Let’s cancel the show. This is not politically sound in this environment. … You can’t say just anything anymore.”

Lye coaches the girls golf team at First Baptist Academy, and his daughter, Eva, is one of the top players in the area. Mark Lye is a Type 1 diabetic, and his son Lucas is also, and he started the Lucas Cup he referenced in the clip to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in 2013. He also previously had a role in the Immokalee Foundation’s charity pro-am, bringing in PGA and LPGA players for that.

Coincidentally, Lye said when he was doing the show Saturday, his daughter was following LPGA Tour star Nelly Korda in the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony Golf & Country Club in Fort Myers, and he also referenced that on the show.

“My kids are going to get exposed to this today (at school) and it breaks my heart that this is happening,” he said Tuesday. “My wife is in tears. I feel awful for my family.”

Lye said he didn’t look at what people were saying on Twitter until after he’d been fired. Some defended him, but many didn’t.

“I have death threats … ‘Hope your family is protected, I tweeted out your address.’ ‘You are the scum of the earth,'” Lye said, recounting some of the comments that were made either publicly or directly messaged to his Twitter account including one that told him to kill himself.

“I’ve made maybe 10 tweets in my whole life before (Sunday), but it started getting to me. I’m not going to sit here and take this. I’m going to defend myself. I found out that people have already made up their mind.”

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SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio fires Mark Lye after host says he’d rather shoot himself than watch the WNBA

“I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment.”

Mark Lye’s Twitter handle is @letitflye, and the former SiriusXM PGA Tour Radio host is doing just that on the social media site as he defends disparaging comments he made about the WNBA that led to his firing.

During a recent episode of The Scorecard, Lye said the following: “You know, the LPGA Tour to me is a completely different tour than it was 10 years ago … 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.”

The winner of the PGA Tour’s 1983 Bank of Boston Classic told GOLF.com on Sunday, “I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA, which I apologized for starting the next segment.”

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PGA Tour’s motion to dismiss Hank Haney lawsuit denied by district court

The PGA Tour’s motion to dismiss a Hank Haney lawsuit regarding the termination of his radio show was denied by a district court on Monday.

A judge for the Southern District of Florida has denied the PGA Tour’s motion to dismiss Hank Haney’s lawsuit against the Tour related to the termination of his show on SiriusXM’s PGA Tour Radio station.

The former golf coach filed a lawsuit against PGA Tour, Inc. on Dec. 18, 2019, seeking damages for harm he claims the PGA Tour caused by allegedly interfering with his show.

The Tour argued Haney’s claims were “bereft of factual specificity.” Alternatively, the Tour said that even if Haney’s allegations satisfy pleading standards, Haney has “still failed to allege facts demonstrating that Defendant unjustifiably interfered with Plaintiffs’ contract and/or business relationship.”

But the court disagreed. From the ruling Monday:

“The Court, having reviewed the parties’ submissions, the record, and being otherwise fully advised in the premises, finds that the allegations teed up in this case—like a well-hit drive on the golf course—have avoided pleading hazards under Rule 12(b)(6), remained in bounds, and left Plaintiffs with an opportunity to take their next shot.”

In a statement to Golf Digest’s Brian Wacker, Haney said he was pleased with the decision. “Discovery will show the evidence in our favor is overwhelming and indisputable, and evidences a disturbing influence the PGA Tour exercises in the golf world, including on media outlets.”

The PGA Tour has said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

In his lawsuit, Haney claims the Tour had “long-standing animus” toward him dating from a desire to “settle an old score” relating to his 2012 book, “The Big Miss,” about his relationship with Tiger Woods, whom he coached for six years.

The lawsuit alleges the Tour forced its Superstores and other shops to cancel orders of Haney’s book, directed the Golf Channel in 2013 to discontinue Haney’s TV show, the “Haney Project,” and convinced sponsors to discontinue relationships with Haney.

Last May, Haney was originally suspended, then dismissed at the Tour’s instruction, from his radio show with Steve Johnson due to insensitive comments he made about the potential winner of the U.S. Women’s Open.

HANEY: Remarks about Korean golfers ‘based on statistics and facts’
TIGER: Hank Haney got what he deserved

Haney, who instructed more than 200 tour professionals throughout his career, issued an apology after facing backlash in the media and from players. His lawsuit states SiriusXM accepted the apology and agreed there would be minimal, if any, consequences.

The lawsuit claims that his dismissal “cost [Haney] advertising revenues that would have amounted to millions of dollars over the life of the agreement.”

As part of his deal with Sirius, which was signed in November 2017 and was set to continue until Feb. 15, 2021, Haney received $250,000 per year plus a percentage of the advertising revenue generated by the program.

Since his dismissal, Haney has a new podcast on iHeart Radio.