PGA Tour Rules Official Stephen Cox and Champions Tour Pro Donnie Hammond

I met Stephenat the Tour Championship this year. When I asked him what the toughest rulinghe ever had to hand out was, he said anything involving Seve Ballesteros. Wetalked about what it was like dealing with Seve who was also his childhoodidol. We also talked about what the life of a PGA Tour Rules Official is like;there’s a whole lot more to it than just riding around in a golf cart handingout rulings. He also talked about design changes being made at his home courseat TPC Sawgrass in time for next year’s Players Championship and a whole lotmore.

Donnie Hammond and I talked at length about his memories of Arnold Palmer. Donnie lives inOrlando not far from Bay Hill. He told the story of getting his firsttournament exemption at Bay Hill in 1983 and being paired with Jack Nicklaus inthe 3rd round. In that round he was assessed a 2 stroke penalty for teeing offout of order…hear why. He also talked about the practice round he played withMr. Palmer at the 1986 Masters and his thoughts on this year’s Ryder Cup.