There Is A Tape!

You may recall that when Ian Stafford reported Paul Azinger's comments on Nick Faldo, I hoped there would be an audio tape. Seems that the The Mail On Sunday has one and posts it online.  

An unbylined Independent item sums up what's on the tape:

So The Mail On Sunday did decide to put last week's already infamous interview with Paul Azinger on the internet yesterday and helped to clear up some of the confusion in the process. Azinger claimed the British journalist had taken him "out of context" in an interview. Azinger was quoted as using the term "prick" in connection with Nick Faldo, his opposing Ryder Cup captain in Kentucky in September, and told a fellow scribbler here on Wednesday that he would not be speaking to any other Fleet Street reporters "in a million fucking years" because of this blatant distortion of the truth. On The Mail on Sunday website Azinger can be clearly heard saying: "You know, if you're going to be a prick, and everybody hated you, why do you think because you're trying to be cute and funny on the air that they're all suddenly going to start to like you?" Now, whatever Azinger says, that is "in context". So it will be interesting how Faldo reacts now. Yesterday, he was too busy up in the CBS tower to respond to the new development, although Sam Torrance, the victorious 2002 captain, is under no illusion why Azinger chose to backtrack on his outburst. "Paul Azinger is a very bright person," said Torrance, who has been part of the BBC commentary team at the Masters. "The Americans have suffered a lot of losses and he's trying to stir up a hornets' nest to get things unsettled. He has said it knowing that there will be repercussions and it has backfired on him. It was rather silly, especially as you have the tape and it's there for all to hear. What Azinger said was unnecessary, uncalled for and is not what the Ryder Cup is about."

This should take you to the audio.