Meet Faaaabel the goat, Valero Texas Open's new unofficial mascot
Depending on your age and your preference, you might consider Tiger Woods or Jack Nicklaus the GOAT of the golf world.
But this week at the Valero Texas Open, there’s a new unofficial mascot with a jaunty swagger and a friendly disposition that might dispute those claims. She’s Faaaabel, a 2 ½-month-old pygmy goat mix that came to this week’s PGA Tour stop in San Antonio partly as a practical joke.
Ted Kneale, senior manager of operations for the Valero Texas Open, says he and a colleague were thinking of ways to mess with Brad Fabel, a rules official with the PGA Tour. So Kneale and Mark Mellgren, a construction vendor and volunteer for the tournament, found a pygmy goat at a nearby farm on Craig’s List. They bought her and named Faaabel after the rules official.
Since she’s been around the Valero Texas Open, Faaaabel has been a celebrity of sorts, getting to meet Annika Sorenstam, Greg Norman, Jimmy Walker, a Texan who won this event in 2015, Matt Kuchar and other players.
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“Everyone’s loved her. The attention she’s getting, there’s quite a bit of attention. All the golfers take to her very well,” Mellgren said.
“I’m kind of surprised at how fast this took off,” Kneale said. “We had her for about a week out here leading up to the event. Some of our staff knew about her and she was friendly with the staff. Before we knew it, people just started asking about the goat. We heard you had a goat, and it snowballed. I think she enjoys all the attention.”
Neither Kneale nor Mellgren know of any mascots – official or otherwise – associated with other tournaments.
“We were just kind of half joking, the whole thing about it being a mascot,” Kneale said. “We just kind of wanted something, funny and fun to hang out with us when we were working. Then we started calling her the unofficial mascot of the tournament.”
There’s a bit of a misconception that goats eat everything, but she doesn’t try to eat golf balls. She does, however, help with the weeds and eats leaves (her favorite is oak).
And her owners Kneale and Mellgren says she’s more than happy in her new role.
“You can tell she’s really excited by the way she’s jumping,” Mellgren said of Faaabel's starring role in videos shared by the Valero Texas Open and PGA Tour.