Brian Gay’s ball stopped short of rolling into the swamp, just left of the green on No. 15 during Thursday’s first round of the RBC Heritage. While Gay’s ball was playable, there was a more dangerous threat to take care of first — an alligator hovering a little too close for comfort.

No problem for Kip Henley, Gay’s caddie, who took about five minutes to chase off the gator. “Be gone (I told it),” said Henley on Friday at Harbour Town Golf Links.

Golf Channel commentators said Kip was going “above and beyond the call of duty for a Tour caddie,” but not big deal, according to the legendary looper.

“We really didn’t see any other option,” he said. “Our best play was to whack that ball right there.”

As you can see in the video above, Henley, armed with a sand rake, really gets after the stubborn gator.

“I ain’t skeered of no alligators,” he told me (speaking in “Kipbonics,” of course). “What’s the last thing you hear a redneck say before he dies? ‘Hold my beer, watch this.’”

Good point. Let the scorecard reflect the current tally — Kip: 1; Alligator on the 15th, 0.