Whoever came up with Milton Bradley's tag line for Gator Golf clearly never dealt with a real life alligator.
If you ask 75-year-old Albert Miller, he'll tell you a lot of things are greater than golf with a gator. That's because he was bitten and dragged into a pond by a 9-foot alligator while playing golf last week, according to The Ledger.
"You'll never get me to look at a gator, touch a gator or eat a gator," Miller told the Lakeland, Fla. newspaper.
Miller was reportedly playing a four-ball tournament with his friend, 66-year-old Ted Price, last Wednesday at Lake Ashton Golf and Country Club when the incident occurred. According to Price, Miller hooked his ball into the water that borders the 15th green, prompting the 75-year-old to go over to the edge with a ball retriever tool. That's when disaster struck.
The alligator reportedly launched at Miler from under the water and got him by his left knee, lifting the man up three feet and slamming him down. Price then grabbed Miller as the animal continued its attack. The other two golfers followed suit, but the gator was still pulling on Miller.
Then, as the gator began to drag Miller into the water, it suddenly let go.
"He let me go," Miller told The Ledger. "I was three feet from my life. He had me submerged up to my belt buckle. That was my miracle of the month."
Miller was reportedly rushed to the hospital, where he had 35 to 40 stitches to close a 10-inch lance wound and two other 5-inch wounds.
A spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission reportedly said that trappers captured the 9-foot, attacking alligator, as well as another 6-foot gator.
Miller is continuing his recovery and continues to receive support from members of the community.
