Saturday, November 16, 2013

Golfer in Mexico nearly gets leg bitten off by crocodile


Ever seen a crocodile on a golf course? If you have then you've likely felt about 1/100th of the emotions these four men felt recently during a round in Mexico.

Great Britain resident Dougie Thomson was hitting his ball out of a bunker at an Iberostar resort course in Cancun when a crocodile sneaked out of the bushes, sank his teeth into Thomson's leg, and dragged him towards the water.

Thomson's buddy Brendan O'Hara tried to save him.

"I didn't think anything about it until I heard him screaming. I just ran over with my 9-iron in my hand and started beating the crocodile about the head.

"It had already dragged him four or five feet towards the water behind the bushes. When I started hitting it, it stopped but it didn't let go of him."

Two other friends, the aptly named Gordon Victory and Martin Botwright, joined briefly thereafter to try and dislodge the beast from Thomson's leg. Botwright took another club to the crocodile while Victory tried to run over it with the cart.

"We didn't have time to be scared, even when its jaws were two or three feet away. I was close enough to smell him – that dirty, rotten, swampy smell," said Botwright.

O'Hara said the aftermath was pretty jarring.

"Dougie was compos mentis throughout, but afterwards he went into shock. I could see the bone in his leg."

Thomson ended up needing 200 stitches in his leg and wasn't real thrilled with the resort owners.

"I'm having my brother look into me taking legal action against Iberostar," he said.

"My leg is a complete mess. It's only by the grace of God I'm alive – and I'm an atheist. If my friends hadn't seen what was happening, I would have just disappeared."

Resort owners said there were warning signs posted.

"We deeply regret this incident and wish Mr Thomson a speedy recovery. The safety of our clients, guests and employees has always been, and will continue to be, of paramount importance to Iberostar."

Remind me to not play golf in Mexico anytime soon.

0 comments:

Post a Comment