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It’s not particularly rare to encounter alligators on the golf course when you play a round in regions where they reside, but most people obviously go out of their way to avoid them on the links. However, Brian Harman is apparently not like most people.
Harman had a stellar career as an amateur who was a member of the golf team at the University of Georgia before turning pro in 2009 and eventually earning the right to play on the PGA Tour in 2012. While he’s only secured three wins on the circuit, his consistent play has allowed him to rake in more than $30 million in career earnings—including the $3 million he took home by winning The British Open at Royal Liverpool in 2023.
That tournament thrust Harman into the spotlight and introduced many golf fans to his painfully tedious preshot routine, although I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest there’s a link between that borderline excruciating approach to preparing for a swing and the patience he exercises while hunting, which is one of his favorite hobbies.
Harman is far from the only professional athlete who moonlights as a hunter, and while most of them don’t mix work and play, he apparently did exactly that at a tournament in his younger days.
Brian Harman decided to wrestle an alligator while preparing for a golf tournament
In 2003, Harman secured one of the biggest victories of his burgeoning golf career with a win at the U.S. Junior Amateur Golf Championship (other notable winners include Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Will Zalatoris, and some guy named Tiger Woods).
Two years later, he continued to pad his résumé when he headed to South Carolina for the now-defunct Players Amateur, where he tied a tournament record with a cumulative -17 that allowed him to finish six strokes over the rest of the field.
However, based on a story LGPA player-turned-instructor Cindy Miller once shared, he probably took a slightly unnecessary risk before the tournament got underway.
Miller is married to former PGA Tour player and coach Allen Miller, who (like Harman) played at the University of Georgia. The two men have a relationship that stretches back to Harman’s days as a Bulldog, and as Cindy recalled on a podcast, they got into some wild shenanigans when they linked up at the Players Amateur.
Here’s what she had to say about what transpired:
“[Allen] calls me one night after what had to be a practice round and he goes, ‘Guess what we did last night?’ and I go ‘What did you do?’
He goes, ‘I went out with Brian Harman. We went alligator hunting.’ I said, ‘You did what?’ He goes, ‘We went alligator hunting. I didn’t go in the water but I watched them.’ I go, ‘Did they get an alligator?’
He says, ‘Of course they did. Do you want me to send you a picture? They caught an alligator with their bare hands.'”
In an interview with The Times, Harman (who prides himself on promoting conservation efforts and respecting the animals he hunts by harvesting and using as many parts as possible) confirmed the story but admitted he had some regrets, saying, “It’s not something I’m proud of. That was harassing wildlife. I regret doing that.”
I respect him for advising other people not to follow in his footsteps, but if I caught an alligator using nothing but my hands while prepping for a golf tournament I ended up winning by a huge margin, I’d brag about that moment for the rest of my life.