PGA Tour Golfer Contracts Regarding Signing Golf Balls

Today I attended a practice round at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. As a collector of autographed golf balls for the past twenty years, I stood outside the fence at Pebble's driving range waiting to pick out my targets. Standing next to me was a lady with her 5-year-old son who was there for the same purpose -- to obtain autographs on golf balls. When I got there, the little boy had two signed balls. One from actor John O'Hurley and the other from another actor, Don Cheadle. I saw walking toward me a very well known PGA Tour pro who I pointed out to the little boy and his mom that this is one autograph they definitely wanted to add to their collection. As the pro approached us, the little boy asked the golfer to sign his golf ball. The pro looked at the ball and told the youngster that he couldn't sign the ball and walked pass us. I looked at the ball and it was a Titleist. I tried to explain to the little boy that some golfers can only sign certain brand name balls. I'm sure he didn't understand my explanation because the two actors signed his golf balls and never questioned the brand of the balls. This sad occurrence leads me to the point of my story. I find it hard to believe that a manufacturer of golf balls would require their sponsored players to sign only their ball, expecially if it meant the player had to turn down little kids. I have no problem with a pro turning me down because of having the wrong brand of ball, but not little kids. What do you think of this situation? Joe Galiardi, author of Hooked on Autographs.