GRAEME McDOWELL WASN’T playing it safe during a practice round at Augusta National yesterday.
McDowell, who tees off for his first round at the Masters tomorrow alongside Matt Kuchar and Brooks Koepka, bumped into a cottonmouth snake just off the 13th tee — but thankfully it wasn’t an unlucky encounter.
The 35-year-old Antrim native escaped unharmed, but not before doing the intelligent thing in such a life-threatening situation — taking out his phone to get a photo of the venomous viper to post on Twitter and Instagram.
According to leading experts (Wikipedia), adult cottonmouth snakes are capable of delivering a painful and potentially fatal bite.
So if winning the most prestigious tournament in golf wasn’t enough of an incentive for this week’s field at Augusta to keep the ball on the fairway, avoiding becoming this fella’s next meal might do the trick instead…