(Editor’s note: The following is a week-long diary by columnist Al Graning while attending the Southern Farm Bureau Golf Classic in Madison last week.)

Mark Russell is not a name widely known among sports people, unless you are a PGA Tour player or official. Mark was the chief PGA official at the Southern Farm Bureau Classic in Madison last week and oversaw his staff of seven to nine rules officials on site this week.

Events such as The Masters, the British and U.S. opens and the PGA Championship are officiated by different groups, such as the PGA of America or European Tour officials as opposed to the PGA Tour organization.

I asked Mar the logic behind enforcing rules violations called in by television viewers, and he replied that 99.9 percent of those calls were in error by fans who don’t really know the rules.

Like all high level athletes, professional golfers are very competitive, and some are more reluctant than others to accept adverse rule interpretations. But the best golfers like Tiger Woods are always perfect gentlemen.

I also had a chat with Bernhard Langer after his Tuesday practice round. Tuesday was the first time he had seen the Annandale course, and he was quite complimentary. The greens had a good pace, though a few greens were a little soft. He also said, in spite of some newspaper headlines, he was not going to resign as captain of the European Ryder Cup team in order to play in the Matches but fully plans to fulfill his duties as captain.

Bernhard is a very pleasant and articulate individual, and I wish him well in the tournament and play to follow him.

Both Natchezian Phillip West and former Natchez resident Chandler Russ played in Tuesday’s pro-am. West helped his team to a 16-under par 56, good for a top-10 finish.

Melanie Christopher with Jackson Channel 12 told me the story of how the Southern Farm Bureau Classic attracted Paul Azinger. It seems that Azinger is an enthusiastic bass fisherman, and the tournament director e-mailed Azinger a photo of a bass boat with the name &uot;Zinger&uot; superimposed on the boat.

Subsequent e-mailed included photos of local fishermen holding up large bass with the caption &uot;We throw the little ones back.&uot; It didn’t take many of those casts until Azinger took the bait.

One of the senior PGA officials serving at this tournament is Arvin Ginn. I remember playing a pro-am with Mr. Ginn at Bellwood over 25 years ago, and I know it was a long time ago because Arvin has been a tour official for 23 years. He was pro at Shady Oaks in Jackson, Port Gibson and the Gulf Coast before joining the tour.

When I asked Arvin about tough rule calls he has had to make, he recalled the hardest rule enforcement he had to make involved Azinger.

I can’t imagine the guts it takes to tell a player you’ve just enforced a rule that is going to cost a player maybe a million dollars. And that’s official.

Al Graning is a former Natchez resident and former SEC official.