SHEBOYGAN, Wis. — In an argument as acrimonious as any Ryder Cup match, a Golf Channel reporter pointed his finger at Corey Pavin’s chest and accused the U.S. captain of lying about comments that Tiger Woods will be picked for the team.
Jim Gray approached Pavin after a news conference Wednesday, and they stood no more than a foot apart, facing off as if they were in the middle of a boxing ring. Pavin’s wife, Lisa, pulled out her mobile phone and recorded the conversation.
Pavin said Gray called him “a liar” and said, “You’re going down.” As Gray turned to walk away, Pavin barked at him, “You’re just going to walk away?”
They continued to argue, although not loud enough that their words could be heard by reporters.
“He called me a liar, which is one thing I don’t do,” Pavin said. “I said he was full of something. I’m not going to have someone call me a liar.”
Gray reported Tuesday night that Pavin told him he would pick Woods for the Ryder Cup if he didn’t make the team on his own at the PGA Championship — the final major of the year that starts today at Whistling Straits.
He quoted Pavin as saying — it was not on camera — “Of course I’m going to. He’s the best player in the world.”
Pavin was so angry when he heard about this Wednesday morning that he tweeted while on the golf course that “Jim Gray has misquoted me re: picking Tiger. I never said such a thing and will not say a thing until 0 9/07.”
Pavin is to announce his four captain’s picks Sept. 7.
The Golf Channel said in a statement that it stands “100 percent behind the accuracy of Jim Gray’s report.”
After Pavin’s tweet, Gray said there was “not one part” of what Pavin said that had been misquoted.
“And quite frankly, I happen to like Corey Pavin,” Gray said. “I’ve known him an awfully long time, and in this instance, he is being disingenuous and is not telling the truth.”
Pavin said he has been asked about Woods and the Ryder Cup since the start of the year, and he had never revealed any of his plans.
“Of all the people I know in the media business, he would not be my first choice to tell that to,” Pavin said. “He wouldn’t be my second, third or fourth choice, either.”
