Miami, FL (WFOR) - A private contractor diving for golf balls at a country club had a violent encounter with a big gator.
The incident happened at the Bonaventure Country Club near Miami.
Stephen Martinez was looking for lost golf balls when a gator chomped down on his arm. The animal was estimated to be between eight and nine feet long.
"He had bite [in several spots], on the side of his hand, and then when he said he pulled away he said the gator kept trying to attack him," said Martin Derrick, a golfer who spoke to Martinez after the attack.
Martinez is one very lucky guy. He survived a gator attack--in the water--and was able to walk on his own and his hand is intact. Witnesses say he was pretty calm after the whole ordeal.
"He said 'I just got bit by a gator and it stings,'" said Trent Hampel, a worker at the club.
It's common to see gators in golf course lakes," said Martin. "The manager said people who look for golf balls here are normally operating blind when they're swimming around. They realize when they're in the water, they're not alone-- and in this case--this angry guy was in the water with Martinez."
Twisting, flopping and fighting every step of the way, a gator pulled from the lake at the Bonaventure Country Club. Trappers are trying to find the one responsible for attacking Stephen Martinez.
They're carwling on the bottom feeling for golfballs," said Randy Weber, a witness to the attack. "There's no visibility there and so they run into gators, turtles, there's all kinds of stuff there."
Animal control officers did remove what they believe to be the gator that bit Martinez.
