Greetings from Augusta, Ga. :

As Chad Campbell continued to lead the tournament at 6 under, play was suspended for the second time Saturday at 7:42 p.m. as darkness descended over the former Fruitland’s Nursery now known as Augusta National Golf Course. I begin these musings with a question: How many of you know for sure how many supporting ribs a typical golf umbrella has??? Having peered occasionally up into my open umbrella during the four hours and 23 minutes Friday afternoon while play was first suspended, I now can tell you with certainty that the answer is : eight! Now that we have that handled, we can move on.

Potentially severe weather accompanied by driving rain with the additional threat of hail and damaging winds moved into the immediate area, forcing the Masters committee to suspend play for the first time at 1:03 local time. Play was resumed at 5:25 as the same weather system that brought a number of tornados resulting in fatalities in Tennessee and northern Georgia finally moved out of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA).

With all the rain that fell from Thursday night through the late afternoon Friday, most common golf courses and clubs would have been forced to close for the day. Augusta National, along with some of the other finest courses in the country, has a “Sub-Air” system that runs under the greens and fairways. As I understand it, this technologically advanced system has enormous pumps that in effect suck the water that falls right off the surface, down into subterranean pipes that then move the water away from the course. It’s amazing to watch when the system is employed and standing water just disappears in a matter of seconds before your very eyes.

I marshaled today on the tee box of the No. 8 hole. This is my favorite position of the four through which I rotate and the one with which I am most familiar. During my first 11 years of duty as a marshal, my crew was assigned to the eighth hole’s tee box. Supervisors on our hole converted us last year to a rotation system in keeping with what all of the other holes have done for many years.

Chad Campbell stands on the third green during third round play of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., Saturday, April 8, 2006.

It’s particularly exciting to have the tee box as my duty when some of the biggest names in golf come up to hit. Along with several others, it was my turn within my own team to be on the actual box today with Tiger Woods and Retief Goosen. We walk just ahead of the players as they depart the roped-off area leading from the seventh green to the eighth fairway and then kneel down inconspicuously just behind and to the left of the golfer once at the tee. The job is to maintain quiet and lack of motion by the patrons and then, in the case of an errant shot, to shout “fore-left” or “fore-right” to warn patrons of potential harm. Since the winds were minimal today, we had only one shot veer into patron territory.

I talked for quite a while tonight after getting back home with Philip Mobley, who caddies for two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal. Phillip has stayed at the same house as I have for the past five years.

Our conversation in part was about the wide variety of relationships that caddies have with their pros. Phillip and Jose Maria are not social friends like some and have almost an entirely working relationship. Among other tasks, Phillip gives recommendations on club selection, yardage to the hole, terrain at the landing area and green, and then he helps read the break on putts.

One final thought from Phillip was that the most difficult hole to walk at Augusta National while toting a 60-pound golf bag and accessories was the 570-yard eighth hole. “My” hole has over 40 feet of vertical elevation that is not apparent from your TV screen. I should have guessed that since I walk up it on my way out every night carrying only the few items we are allowed to bring onto the grounds – and a few extra pounds of my own that I still intend to lose someday.

A final word of advice should you visit a future Masters tournament, I recommend that you wear comfortable walking shoes. Preferably they should be golf shoes with rubber spikes that will afford good traction on the sometimes-slippery terrain of Augusta National. If you don’t have spiked golf shoes, at least wear dark attire, so when you slip and fall it won’t be as embarrassing to your wardrobe’s appearance.

Well, it’s time to get some sleep. Because of the early opening of the course, I am to be on my post by 7 a.m. Most likely a 6:00 p.m. conclusion is in store for us, followed by packing my belongings at the house and a five-hour drive to Murfreesboro, Tenn.

But, a long day that includes a bit of “golf heaven” is better than a shorter day without!

– Jerry Weakley, a Masters marshal, is vice president for endowment and planned giving/interim vice president for university relations at Baker University