Zinger coy, but we'll say it: Give him second Ryder term in '10

CHAMPIONSGATE, Fla. -- The first pitches came via overhand delivery.

Then, from a three-quarter arm slot. Sidearm slings came next, followed by submarine-style sinkers.

Paul Azinger says the Ryder Cup experience was 'amazing' but isn't yet committed to doing it again. (Getty Images)

No matter, since Paul Azinger refused to swing at any of the offerings Thursday as it relates to his possible return as the Ryder Cup captain in 2010. Yet in doing so, he somehow managed to say a mouthful.

Only Azinger, a former broadcaster who has rarely has missed a chance to talk when a microphone was placed before him, could seemingly say so much by uttering so little.

Two weeks after publicly flirting with the possibility that he'd be interested in becoming for first captain since Ben Hogan in 1947 and '49 to lead the U.S. team in consecutive Ryder outings, Azinger pursed his lips, fought back a smirk and tried to play dumb.

He looked like a contestant on that old black-and-white TV show, I've Got a Secret. Or maybe it was What's My Line?

Azinger was asked a half-dozen variations on the same question, and though the answers never much changed, he all but telegraphed his renewed interest in the position two years hence -- if not that the position is already in the pipeline.

"I'm not going to go there," Azinger said.

Which doesn't mean he won't be going to Wales in 2010, when the U.S. defends the Cup. The host PGA of America ought to lease the jet for his trip, like, yesterday.

Azinger, playing this weekend in the Del Webb Father/Son Challenge, openly gushed about the experience of leading the American team three months ago in Kentucky, but when it came time to discuss whether he might re-up, he was uncharacteristically mum.

"Anything regarding the future Ryder Cup captaincy needs to be directed to them," Azinger said. "I don't want to step on their toes."

So he toe-danced instead. He might have gone ole on the details, but this is hardly a hardly a categorical denial of interest, eh? How about this one:

"I don't know how to respond just yet," Azinger said. "When I say that, I'm saying I don't know what you're supposed to know with respect to the PGA of America."