Mark Lye -- a former PGA Tour pro -- was fired from his golf radio host job this weekend ... after he said on-air that watching the WNBA made him want to shoot himself.
Lye made the disparaging comments on SiriusXM's "The Scorecard" show on Saturday ... while trying to explain why he's now a fan of women's golf.
"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."
@NoLayingUp Mark Lye on pga tour radio just now. Whole station needs to be burned to the ground. pic.twitter.com/YFeTkrNG39
— Jill Lawson (@Jalawsons) February 5, 2022
He continued, "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."
Lye told GOLF.com the comments almost immediately got him fired ... saying SiriusXM officials canned him a short time afterward.
"I was terminated about comments made about the WNBA," said Lye, who added that he did apologize for the words in the ensuing segment.
SiriusXM confirmed the firing to GOLF.com, saying the 69-year-old "will no longer be hosting."
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.
— mark lye (@letitflye) February 6, 2022
Lye put out a statement on Twitter on Sunday following the firing ... appearing to defend the comments.
"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 joined the PGA Tour in the late 1970s ... and won one event. His best finish at the Masters came in 1984, when he took home sixth place. He retired from the tour in 1995, and has worked as a golf analyst for various outlets since.