An alligator like the one pictured here was blamed for snatching a Florida golfer's ball out of the air. Creative Commons photo

Feb. 22 (UPI) -- A Florida golfer said she was able to avoid a penalty thanks to a confused alligator that snatched her ball out of the air.

Joanne Sadowsky said she was playing with her husband, Len, in a couple's tournament at the Bonita National Golf Club when she had a bad tee-off on hole 2.


"I shanked the ball to the right, and it was heading to the water," she told the Naples Daily News. "It was close to the gator's head. He saw it, jumped up and caught it."

The hungry gator's mistake earned Sadowsky a free drop.

"It saved me from a hazard penalty," she said.

She said the free drop unfortunately wasn't enough to win the tournament.

"We came close but were just out of the money," Sadowsky said.

Alligators in the Bonita Springs area have been known to display unusual behaviors in the past -- one of the reptiles was caught on video last June taking a rare swim in the ocean.