Usually, golfers are tapping in putts on the green, but Cody Gribble took a bigger risk, tapping a gator into a water hazard at the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday.
A video shows a very brave sole, pro golfer Gribble, walking up to a large gator lying by the edge of the fairway and giving the reptile a little “love” tap on its tail, according to Fanrag Sports Network.
The gator quickly moved into the water hazard following the tap from Gribble.
According to Golf Week, the gator was 8 feet long, which makes the 26-year-old look even more courageous, considering he’s not even 6 feet tall.
“I didn’t even realize it was on video,” Gribble said, according to Golf Week. “Gator looked like he needed some exercise, I don’t know. He was sitting right there in the way and I guess I was struggling today, I wanted to get some adrenaline going somehow.”
The Dallas native said this isn’t the first time he’s had an encounter with a gator.
“It’s probably frowned upon but I wasn’t too worried about it at the time,” Gribble said, according to Golf Week. “It’s like a jolt, it’s quick, you know, they’re not going to catch you a couple steps down.”
When asked if he’s ever had one of the crocks turn around on him before, Gribble said, “Oh yeah, but they haven’t got me.”
Gribble finished off Thursday’s round with a 77, and will start his second round on Friday 10 strokes behind the leader, Fanrag Sports noted.
Twitter had some fun with this one.
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