WATCH: PGA Tour pros encounter giant alligator on fairway and have wildly different reactions

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When you walk down the fairway, often your next stroke is the only thing on your mind.

However, for two PGA Tour golfers, a close encounter with an American alligator produced a different reaction.

The frightening episode took place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge in the suburbs of Orlando, Florida.

Gators are a common sight in Florida, but no amount of advance warning can prepare you for a face-to-face interaction.

PGA Tour pair Cody Gribble and Smylie Kaufman didn’t have the same reaction when they passed the reptile.

Alabama’s Gribble took a more confident approach to clearing the deadly obstacle in his path, slapping the gator’s tail as it disappeared down the fairway.

Kaufman, on the other hand, didn’t react with the same swagger and took evasive action when confronted by the Floridian monster.

Since American Gators are residents of many golf courses in Florida, they are as much of a deterrent as bunkers for local golfers.

The exciting conditions on America’s golf courses are reported to be the perfect oasis for gators, with increased coolness on the greens.

Studies in the States, especially in Florida, recommend that you be careful if you encounter an alligator in the area, and the predator is only dangerous to people. But you never know if they are hungry!

If you’re riding a golf course where you know gators might hang out, it’s best to be careful and not step into their space or touch them like PGA pro-Gribble.

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