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Malaysian golfer makes serious
'alligat-ions' after crocodile attack!

May 24, 2004; Source: AnyoneForTee
"He's lucky to have more than a dogleg left", say medical experts

MALAYSIA. A 42-year old company director, Terry Hong Kee Siong, was savagely attacked by a crocodile as he was playing at Malaysia's celebrated A'Famosa Resort in Malacca.

The giant crocodile grabbed Hong's leg as he played a pitching wedge to the seventh green. Fellow players saw no cause for alarm as they heard him yell "Bite, bite!" while the ball soared towards the green, thinking their colleague was only hoping for some backspin.

Then to their horror, they saw the 6 metre beast (the crocodile, not the putt) with its jagged teeth clamped around the hapless golfer's leg.

Hong said that while he had been looking for his ball near a pond on the 7th, he had stepped on what he thought was a piece of wood.

As Hong struck, so did the crocodile. After grabbing the golfer's leg, the angered reptile then attempted to drag the player into the pond. But Hong managed to escape by hitting it on the head - again with a pitching wedge. "Lucky I caught it clean," he told Anyone For Tee's local correspondent over a ice-cold gator-ade in the clubhouse yesterday. "For a moment I thought I would end up as part of someone's handbag."

The shaken and bleeding golfer needed 38 stitches in his leg (picture above right). His mood was not helped by his fellow players' insistence on calling him "Crocodile Hong Kee" and demanding that the blow to the crocodile should count as an additional shot, arguing that Hong otherwise would not have escaped from the jaws of de feet. It is not known whether his playing partners were also in stitches after the incident.

A'Famosa Resort, Malacca

A'Famosa Resort, Malacca

Mr Hong has not played since grappling with the reptile and is suing the course owners for RM286 (a very modest US$ 75) in special damages, costs and aggravated and exemplary damages, alleging serious negligence in putting golfers at risk. "These are serious alligat-ions," said club secretary Po Faced Limb. "Naturally we do everything we can to protect our members but we cannot be expected to control the local wild life. Those nine holes are called "The Crocodile Nine" after all, and there are "Beware of crocodile" signs everywhere. The crocs are part of the unique charm of the course (picture above right). And anyway, wouldn't you snap if someone stood on your head?"

That didn't impress Mr Hong. "Frankly that's a croc of !*!*" he told Anyone For Tee, complaining that the attack might have left him in court without a leg to stand on.

The crocodile has not been seen since, leading to a countersuit against the golf course and Mr Hong by local nature preservationists. "This is yet another case of golf driving a wedge between nature and mankind," said a spokesman for CROC (Crocodile Rights Organisation Committee).

This is not the first time Malaysian golfers have had to cope with unexpected guests during play. Gibbons often turn up to watch (picture right), and a five-metre python made an appearance on a Malaysian golf course in February, appropriately during a local 'skins' tournament. A large and out of condition walrus was also believed spotted during the Malaysian Open a few years ago - though it turned out to be only portly American golfing star Craig Stadler.

You have your say: Mr Hong used a pitching wedge to defend himself against the crocodile. Click here to tell us what club you would have chosen, and why.

Why not take a snap decision and visit Malaysia?
A'Famosa Resort If you'd like to play with the crocodiles in beautiful Malaysia, you can find out more by visiting http://www.afamosa.com/ or http://www.malacca.ws/afamosa/golf.htm. More details about the three delightful nine-hole courses can be found below, but beware: The Crocodile Nine is closed for maintenance from 1 March to 12 June 2004, or as they say in Malacca - "See you later, alligator!"
Rocky Nine Named for the prolific presence of boulder outcrops which serve both aesthetic and penal functions, this 3,182-metre grouping of holes plays outwards from the clubhouse up to the resort's boundary with the North-South Highway, then back to the clubhouse. The signature fourth hole is a boulder-strewn par 5 which plays parallel to the highway on the left.
Palm Nine The palm nine is thus named due to the prolific presence of tall coconut trees which line the fairway perimeters. Picturesque and challenging, this nine hole tract is the longest of the trio, measuring 3,215 metres from the back markers. The signature hole is the par 5 fourth, which demands a spectacular water carry for the approach to a diagonally angled greensite.
Crocodile Nine A' Famosa's shortest and newest nine-hole loop plays towards the "Water World" theme park, which provides a stunning backdrop to the fourth green. The highlight of this spectacular nine is the hole from which it gets its monicker - the par four seventh, which demands one of the most unnerving approaches known to golf; over a narrow strait to a peninsula greensite, built next to a crocodile pit.

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