PGA golfer Cody Gribble slaps alligator on course

Cody Gribble in October 2016. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg)

American pro golfer Cody Gribble is showing that nothing – not even an alligator – will get in his way out there on the course.

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The PGA Tour rookie was caught on video Thursday casually walking up to an alligator before slapping its tail, sending the reptile scurrying into a pond. Gribble later scored a birdie on the par-5 sixth hole where the creature had been taking up residence.

"I've done it a couple times before," the 26-year-old quipped to the media after his first round at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando. "I wasn't too worried about it at the time. Those guys, I mean, it's like a jolt, it's quick, they're not going to catch you, they're not going to catch you a couple of steps down.”

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Gribble said he's had gators turn on him, but they haven't caught him yet.

And for those who have never had the experience, Gribble said the skin of a gator is "incredibly clean."

"The gator looked like he needed some exercise," Gribble added after opening with a score of 77, five over par. "But he was sitting right there in the way and, you know, I guess I was trying to get some adrenaline going somehow. But I wasn't really afraid of it."

Past PGA golfers who have tried to boot alligators off the course didn’t have immediate success like Gribble.

In 2014, John Peterson used a rake from a sand trap to prod an alligator guarding his ball during a tournament in New Orleans. But the stubborn gator took its time to retreat into the water.