WHAT? Paul Azinger Ripped For Tommy Fleetwood Criticism

Wow did Paul Azinger ever stir the pot this past weekend! Azinger, the U.S. Ryder Cup Captain in 2008, had some pretty stunning words regarding Tommy Fleetwood and the European Tour.

Fleetwood looked to be on his way to a potential win at the Honda Classic this weekend but ended up receiving some harsh criticism from Azinger, stating Fleetwood needs to validate his career by winning a tournament, stateside.

“There’s a lot of pressure here. You’re trying to prove to everybody you’ve got what it takes and these guys know you can win all you want on that European Tour, the international game and all that, but you have to win on the PGA TOUR,” Azinger said from the booth. “And they know that and I think Tommy knows that. It puts a little pressure on Tommy — but this is where they want to be, isn’t it? They want to come here, they want to prove that they can win at this level.”

A good example of why I wouldn’t advise watching PGA Tour golf with the sound on pic.twitter.com/rQEHjY5cTa

— Garrett Morrison (@gfordgolf) March 1, 2020

As you can imagine, not a lot of European players who play on the European Tour took kindly to those comments. Ian Poulter tweeted out that while he respects Azinger, the critic disrespected the European Tour by calling them inferior, even though they’ve beaten him multiple times in the Ryder Cup. Lee Westwood added, calling Azinger condescending and stating he didn’t appreciate the fact that many players like him have won on multiple continents for decades.

Zinger: “You can win all you like on that @EuropeanTour… but you have to win on the @PGATOUR”

As per @gfordgolf:

Strength of field for Fleetwood’s 3 biggest @EuropeanTour wins:

‘18 Abu Dhabi: 351
‘17 Abu Dhabi: 330
‘17 French Open: 270

Honda: 261pic.twitter.com/HEmv63gsvA

— James Byrne (@jamesbyrne89) March 1, 2020

For what it’s worth, Azinger did offer a half-hearted apology, saying that he wasn’t trying to be malicious but that players choke because of money and prestige, both which the PGA TOUR offers. For Fleetwood, he didn’t end up closing out his first PGA TOUR victory.

Despite that downfall, he has still won five events in Europe, qualifying his career being more successful than most. That being said, I don’t think he’ll be hanging his head over Azinger’s remarks.

While many are like Azinger and want to compare the two tours to each other, golfers should remember that both coexist and they both have plenty of talent in their midst. Regardless of whichever tour a player chooses to participate in, their accomplishments should garner all of the respect that they deserve.

Cover Image Via Twitter