CNN
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Golf fans are used to hearing curling putts described as ‘sinking’. What they are less familiar with, however, is the sight of a snake hanging from the end of a club.
During the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow on Saturday, Rickie Fowler was on hand to deliver a safe performance.
Fowler was on the fifth seventh hole of his third round at the PGA Tour event in Charlotte, when his tee shot went careening along the fairway and into the waters.
While searching for his ball, the American noticed a snake among some rocks. North Carolina is home to many species of snakes, many of which inhabit the Tar Heel State’s waters. Comments on the PGA Twitter post What species of snake has been preserved, but it is thought that A Northern water snakeA non-endangered species of North America.
Fowler, hooking his wedge, slowly pulled the snake out before it slithered out between a crevice in the rocks. The fact that the 34-year-old is a long-time partner with Puma-Cobra makes this a fitting collaboration.
He eventually took the penalty drop but managed to salvage par by carding a three-under 68 before repeating the score on Sunday, finishing 14th at eight-under overall, 11 shots behind champion Wyndham Clark.
That moved him up three places to world No. 50 ahead of this month’s PGA Championship at Oak Hill, where he will again chase a first career major after three runner-up finishes.
Fowler will be hoping to avoid the fate that befell Richard Brand at last year’s event. The English golfer’s second round was derailed when a squirrel ran onto the green to intercept his ball and spun it around before scurrying away.
To add salt to the wounds, Bland was not allowed to move his ball or replay his shot under US Golf Association rules.
Snakes and squirrels have continued golf’s growing story of running animals, with dogs, deer, and alligators all panning chapters in recent years.
