When it comes to sports, there is a generally accepted hierarchy of which ones are the most dangerous.
At the top of the danger list are sports like football, hockey, boxing, and mixed martial arts. As you move down the list, you’ll start getting basketball, and baseball, and tennis… all the way down to swimming, which is generally viewed as one of the least dangerous sports out there.
Nestled towards the bottom of that list is also golf.
But if this viral video is any indication, maybe that sport should scoot on up that list.
Last weekend, the Sanderson Farms Championship took place in Jackson, Mississippi.
American golfer Vince Whaley, 30, was seeking his first PGA Tour victory, according to Golf Digest, when a tee shot went awry on the par-5 11th hole, as it fell slightly into shallow waters.
That’s when Whaley — clearly a man dedicated to his vocation — took off his golf shoes and waded into the water to hit the golf ball, instead of taking a stroke penalty.
While many golfers in the past have pulled a similar stunt in the water, seldom have those trysts into the water involved another living, breathing creature.
Whaley’s instance most certainly did, and it’s honestly better for you to just watch it for yourself:
Would you have taken a drop?
Play it as it lies 🐊
Vince Whaley played this shot from the lake … just a few feet away from a gator @Sanderson_Champ! pic.twitter.com/iK3NaSEdiZ
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 5, 2025
Apart from the inquisitive gator, the next most impressive part of this viral video? Whaley was able to save par (for those who don’t know golf, that means he put the golf ball in the hole within five strokes, since this was a par-5) despite the aquatic detour.
Alas, this particular par and subsequent birdies (when you get the golf ball into the hole in one fewer stroke than a par) on holes 13 and 15 were largely undone with a bogey (when you take more than the allotted strokes) on the 16th hole.
Despite Whaley’s viral moment, it was fellow American Steven Fisk who ultimately took home the top place in the tournament.
Steven dreamt of this moment when he was little 🥺 pic.twitter.com/t9Nsk15peI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 6, 2025
“We all think we’re good enough to compete out here and to win,” Fisk said of his victory. “And finally I truly know that I’m good enough to be a PGA Tour winner.”
As Fisk alluded to, it goes without saying that PGA Tour golfers all need a bit of outsized confidence to succeed in such a competitive sport.
But it’s certainly not every day you meet a golfer willing to literally risk life and limb to maintain a par.
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