TPC Louisiana is known as a tricky Pete Dye course from its hidden bunkers to its firm and fast greens. The designer built it in the style of his renowned TPC Sawgrass, and like its Florida predecessor, it has one extra-special obstacle that many courses (luckily) don’t have: Alligators.
The teams at the Zurich Classic found this out in person on the very first day of the pairs event when a gator took a luxurious New Orleans stroll right through the tee box on the 172-yard, par-3 No. 17. The announcers went wild, while also giving us some fun varmint backstories. The pros were somehow chill enough to get a few practice swings in while waiting.
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“Look out. A timeout has been called at 17. So, that particular critter has four legs.
“For a long time, a legendary alligator named Tripod was here. He has three legs as you might imagine. There’s another three-legged alligator that’s been spotted around the course recently, but he’s missing his front left leg. Tripod was missing his front right leg.”
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Jason Allen/ISI Photos
Now, Tripod seemed a good deal bigger than this friendly creature, but perhaps this is just the beginning of a new gator’s reign of terror. Tripod became so big (figuratively and literally) that he got his own sculpture made out of foam, a fiberglass shell and recycled tires. That’s when you know you’ve truly made it.
Anyway, you can’t blame this happy-go-lucky animal for taking a midday constitutional around the course with such nice April weather. This is the ultimate example of playing through with the pros taking too much damn time. This gator’s got stuff to do, people to see, golf to delay.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
