Rickie Fowler is down in New Orleans for the Zurich Classic and the entire event has kept him plenty busy. He posted social media photos of he and Allison Stokke hitting the town and then on Friday he decided to try his luck with an uncooperative alligator.During his second round, Fowler and Thomas Pieters appeared to be discussing something and then T.V. cameras captured the gator chilling near a bunker. After some more discussion, the golfer went over and decided to do something about the animal.Armed with a bunker rake, he made a swift poke and the reptile got the message. The gator scurried off into the water while an amused Fowler tossed the rake back into the bunker to continue his round.Moments like these are becoming more and more commonplace during the PGA Tour. No one is touching what Cody Gribble did at Bay Hill back at March when he tapped an unsuspecting gator on the tail to get it off the course.Luckily these tactics don’t seem to have backfired on anyone just yet. One golfer is probably going to end up being the unlucky soul that ends up getting the business end of these animals soon though.Jason Day offered a reason that Fowler may have been so eager to get on with the round. He and his partner were both even through four holes, but were battling against time and their own games down the stretch.Day said: “Obviously it was playing tough out there, but you really can’t expect to hit it to 20, 30 feet all day or even more and hole putts for birdie. It played very, very difficult with regards to getting it on the fairway, and if you’re not on the fairway, then you’re coming out of rough or you’re coming out of a bunker.”

Add to that kind of moment the fact that you might be sharing a bunker with a giant animal and the concern is absolutely understandable. There were already enough variables to be worried about without adding in any scaly friends to the equation.

For Day and Fowler, their time at Zurich would come to an end because they would finish two strokes outside the cut. Maybe the gator was a bit of an omen that Friday just wouldn’t be in the cards for the two established golfers.

Unfortunately for the other reptilian observers, they still can’t camp out quite so close to the action.