Professional golfing legends Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus and prominent TV analyst Ken Venturi added their stature and voices Thursday to defense arguments against disabled golfer Casey Martin's legal challenge to the PGA Tour's ban on riding carts in tournament play.

Each of them insisted he empathized with Martin, and each said he was not testifying against him. But all were adamant that changing the rules to accommodate Martin and his debilitating circulatory disorder would erode the game's integrity.

"I understand their position. I don't agree with it," the 25-year-old Martin said after the trial was recessed until next Tuesday.

He said many have encouraged him to appeal if he loses, but "I don't want to do that."

Yet with various legislators looking at remedies under the Americans With Disabilities Act, which Martin has cited in suing the PGA Tour, he said, "If I were to lose this, it's not the end of the road."

PGA Tour officials have said they will appeal if they lose.

Martin seemed hurt that none of Thursday's defense witnesses had looked at medical records detailing the severity of his condition, but all said nonetheless that using a cart would give him a competitive advantage.

"Everyone is not willing to look at my situation. They are distancing themselves from me," Martin said. "But if they really wanted to do that, why testify against me?"

Venturi, a CBS Sports golf analyst, took the witness stand. Palmer and Nicklaus testified via videotaped depositions, as did current PGA Tour player Scott Verplank, a former Western Open winner.

Though the other three are better known, Verplank was arguably the strongest defense witness.

As a diabetic who has had elbow surgeries, Verplank insisted when Martin got a temporary injunction to use a cart at the PGA Tour qualifying tournament last year that every player should also get that option. Tournament officials agreed. Verplank used a cart, and he won the tournament.

In his taped testimony, Verplank said his prevailing argument to officials was, "You can't give the kid 1-up (a stroke advantage) on the first tee."

Under questioning by defense attorney William Maledon and cross-examination by plaintiff's attorney William Wiswall, Verplank said that walking was fundamental to the game and its stress and fatigue. Given a cart-use exception, he added, "anybody would have an advantage."

That position was echoed by Nicklaus, Palmer and Venturi.

Wiswall asked each of them how he knew a cart would give Martin a competitive advantage if he wasn't familiar with Martin's medical condition. Palmer paused longest before saying he was talking about rules, not any individual.

Nicklaus uttered a microcosm of this case when he said, "You're talking about Mr. Martin. I'm talking about golf."

Verplank said he had empathy for Martin, whom he has seen play, but added, "I'm just as disabled as he is."

Wiswall asked if Verplank had seen Martin's medical records, or the tape shown during this trial offering graphic evidence of his right leg's deterioration--it's so thin and atrophied that he must wear double full-length compression stockings almost constantly to keep the limb from swelling at the knee and discoloring. Verplank said he hadn't and didn't want to.

During a recess, Wiswall said Verplank's comparing his condition to Martin's disability "was kind of insensitive. No golfer at the PGA or Nike Tour level is suffering like Casey is."

Wiswall said Verplank was the only golfer among the qualifying tournament's top 35 finishers who used a cart.

Verplank acknowledged under cross-examination that being able to run and ride a bike for conditioning might give him a competitive advantage over Martin, who can do neither.

Venturi, who walked through heat stroke to win the 1964 U.S. Open, gave strong defense testimony about the need for rules and not bending them. When Maledon asked him if physical and mental fatigue affect shot-making, Venturi anticipated the line of questioning and said:

"Fatigue would be less if you have a cart, if that's what we're getting at."

It was, along with the PGA Tour's core argument that its rules and its right to make and enforce them are essential to the game's integrity.

Expressing his respect for Martin, Venturi said, "I'm not talking personality. I'm looking at golf carts. Whether it's my dearest friend or worst enemy, the rules don't change."

Outside the courtroom, Maledon reiterated the points he tried to make before U.S. Magistrate Thomas Coffin, who will decide the case.

"This case is not about Casey Martin. It's about whether an organization like the PGA Tour, Major League Baseball or the NBA can make the rules for its competition."

Changing the rules for any individual means "it's not a level playing field," Maledon said. "You cannot equalize the physical attributes of competitors at the outset of competition. If you do, it's not a competition."

During cross-examination by Wiswall, Palmer conceded he did not know that walking was not an absolute U.S. Golf Association rule, but one that USGA empowers the PGA Tour to make.

Martin refused to criticize his peers' testimony. But he said, "Fatigue is not simply walking. Fatigue is a combination of mental and physical.

"Both apply to me . . . physically, particularly."