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Man Attacked By Gator At Weston Golf Course

WESTON (CBSMiami) – Alligator trappers caught an eight foot gator at a Weston country club Wednesday—the same gator they believe is responsible for biting a man who was diving for golf balls.

Stephen Martinez was bit by the 8-foot gator while diving for golf balls in a lake at the Bonaventure Country Club in Weston. Martinez described the attack to CBS 4 News.

"I was locked on to by an alligator," he told CBS 4's Carey Codd. "Very hard snap and I got out and everything was okay. Thank God minimal damage was done."

Click here to watch Carey Codd's report. 

Martinez said he had about 3-4 feet of visibility in the water and that the gator came out of nowhere—not only biting him but the reptile would not leave him alone.

"It actually chased me down so I think personally somebody was feeding it so that leaves loss of fear for humans," Martinez said.

Martinez managed to walk away and he was seen on the golf course holding his injured arm up in the air.

Witnesses said it could have been a lot worse.

"He was bleeding on the bottom right of his hand. He was cut. It was nothing serious," said Trent Hampel."Just the initial thought of him being bit by a gator, it could have been a lot worse."

It's common in some golf course lakes to see gators swimming.

The manager of the country club, Randy Weber, said people who look for golf balls are normally operating blind when they're swimming around and don't realize when they are in the water that they may not be alone.

"They're crawling on the bottom feeling for golf balls. There's no visibility there and so they run into gators, turtles—there's all kinds of stuff there," said Weber.

The gator was captured Wednesday afternoon.

Martinez said he's been doing this for more than 20 years despite the gator bite he plans to continue.

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