BEAUFORT, S.C. -- Officials say an alligator bit off part of

a golfer's arm as he leaned over to pick up his ball at a private

South Carolina course.

The man, who is in his 70s, was retrieving his ball from a pond

when the 10-foot alligator bit him at Ocean Creek Golf Course in

Beaufort County. The gator pulled the golfer into the pond and

ripped off his arm in the struggle. His golf partners were able to

free him.

Wildlife workers killed the alligator and retrieved the arm in

the hopes it might be reattached.

The man has not been identified. He was being treated at the

Medical University of South Carolina, but officials there would not

release any information about him.

A call to the golf course was not immediately returned.