Golfer Cody Gribble slaps sunbathing alligator on the tail

March 17 (UPI) -- Professional golfer Cody Gribble shooed away a gator at a PGA Tour event in Florida by slapping it on the tail.

The PGA Tour shared video of Gribble as he casually walked up to gator that was sunbathing by a water hazard and sent it flopping into the water with a firm, open-handed slap on the tail.

"The gator looked like he needed some exercise," Gribble told ESPN. "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."

Gribble appeared unfazed as he approached the 8-foot gator at the sixth hole of the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, and said he's dealt with gators on the golf course before.

"They're not going to catch you a couple of steps down," he said. "They're going to get you really quick early, but if I'm not in its way -- I'm right behind him -- it's not going to happen."