At the 2019 Valspar Championship, you'll probably notice many caddie's bibs don't show their player's name, like you would expect most every week on the PGA Tour (or any tour, for that matter). You'll see all kinds of other names.
For example, first-round co-leader Joel Dahmen's caddie, Geno Bonnalie, is wearing the name "Leaping Cougar" on his bib. Anirban Lahiri's caddie has the name tag "#currypower," which is a hashtag Lahiri often uses on Twitter.
The Valspar Championship decided to have some fun this week with the Tampa-area event, declaring this week the PGA Tour's Spring Break and trying to create some fan- and player-focused initiatives to invite a spirit of fun and celebration at Innisbrook Resort.
Plenty of players are taking part in the fun. Some are coming up with funny nicknames and slogans, while Jon Rahm is among those using this as a marketing opportunity. His caddie is wearing Rahm's Instagram handle. Adam Hadwin went with his Twitter handle. The LPGA actually promotes this with their caddie bibs already, inviting players to share their social media handles along with their name.
Tour doing some spring break stuff this week at Valspar, including allowing nicknames on caddie bibs. @Joel_Dahmen went with “Leaping Cougar” and shot 66. pic.twitter.com/daDMMa2oq2
— Will Gray (@WillGrayGC) March 21, 2019
Sung Kang went with "Kangsta," which is probably the best one. Roger Sloan went with "Sloan Ranger," a play on the Lone Ranger.
Among some of the other fun ideas were music allowed during the Wednesday pro-am, fans voting on superlative for players, a concert featuring Brad Paisley and an expansion of the tournament's sneaky-fun hospitality experiences.
With the Valspar Championship sitting squarely at the end of the Florida Swing and coming after The Players Championship, it's in the somewhat unenviable position of trying to liven things up and offer something a little different the week after one of the five biggest events on the PGA Tour schedule. Tampa continues to embrace the fun nature of the event, offering a splash of color (pun intended) to be a less-stressful week.