Alligator delays play at Valspar Championship in Tampa

Charley Hoffman and the alligator that momentarily delayed his second round of the Valspar Championship on Friday have a history.

Hoffman and playing partners John Senden and Woody Austin paused briefly to let a 12-foot gator cross the fairway as they were playing the third hole at Innisbrook.

As that prehistoric creature from hell that stalked the course in another part of Florida last week proved, reptiles of the very large variety are rather commonplace in the Sunshine State.

“That was big,” Hoffman, who won’t be around for the weekend after finishing almost DFL at 13-over for 36 holes, told PGATour.com about the one he encountered on Friday. “We were all walking and my caddie stopped. I said, ‘What are you stopping for?’ And … ”

While Hoffman said it was rare for such a critter to cross a fairway in the middle of a tournament, he was certain he and this particular scaly guy had exchanged pleasantries before.

“That same alligator, six years ago,” he said. “A guy in my pro-am group said he used to mess with alligators when he was younger. I went, ‘You don’t mess with alligators.’ He said, ‘Yeah, we used to grab their tails.’”

Hoffman said he offered the guy a Benjamin to grab the gator by the tail.

“‘Not touch it,’” Hoffman clarified. “‘Pick that alligator’s tail up.’”

So that’s what the gent did.

“He walked over there and picked that alligator’s tail up. That exact alligator,” Hoffman recounted. “It was slightly smaller then, but it was huge then. I gave the guy a hundred bucks.”

Hoffman swore it was the very same gator that halted play on Friday.

“There’s only been one here every year that I’ve been here, and it keeps getting slightly bigger and bigger,” said Hoffman, who bogeyed the hole and carded a 5-over 76. “I tell that story here every year. I felt bad when he went over there. I’m thinking, ‘I could be the reason this guy dies.’”