This story sounds almost exactly like the one Chubbs tells in the movie Happy Gilmore.
One-eyed gator chomps down on golfer trying to get ball out of pond
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Posted June 26 2007, 10:28 AM EDT
VENICE -- A Tennessee man who lost his ball in a golf course pond nearly lost a limb when an 11-foot alligator latched on to his arm and pulled him in, authorities said.
Bruce Burger, 50, was trying to retrieve his ball from a pond on the sixth hole Monday at the Lake Venice Golf Club.
The alligator latched on to Burger's right forearm and pulled him in the pond, said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. He used his left arm to beat on the reptile until it freed him.
``I saw him reach down to get his ball and he yelled ... 'Help. Help. I've been bitten by a gator,''' said Janet Pallo, who was playing the fifth hole and ran over to drive the man to the clubhouse.
Burger, from Lenoir City, Tenn., was taken to a hospital but was not seriously injured, Morse said Tuesday.
It took seven Fish and Wildlife officers an hour to trap the one-eyed alligator, which measured 10 feet, 11 inches, Morse said.
The pond at the sixth hole has a ``Beware of Alligator'' sign posted because the staff is aware that a large alligator likes to hang out there.
``Unfortunately, that's part of Florida,'' course general manager Rod Parry said. ``There's wildlife in these ponds.''
Sun-SentinelMay and June is mating season when they are more aggressive regardless of the situation, and are especially aggressive when protecting nests. Further, we are in the middle of a severe drought which has greatly cut back on their food supply. When in a tangle with one that size, he's lucky to have gotten away at all. One that big has gotta weigh about 400# -450#. To not be seriously hurt is almost a miracle.
