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Stunned golfers stumble across two giant alligators brawling on course

It seems like you've got to keep an eye out for more than just foul balls on the golf course!

A group of golfers in South Carolina has opened up about the "nerve-wracking" moment they stumbled upon two giant alligators brawling against each other as they prepared to tee off on the eighteenth hole.

They were able to capture footage of the two beasts, each with the huge jaws clamped on the other.

The footage was capture at the Hilton Head Lakes golf course, and was later shared to their Facebook page, along with the caption: "Sudden death playoff on the 18 yesterday! Keep your eyes open out there, the course is full of wildlife!"

Check out the heart-stopping footage below:

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Matthew Proffitt, a member of the professional staff at the Hardeeville club, managed to video the rare encounter, and later told the Hilton Head Island Packet that the fight between the two gators lasted about two hours.

Proffitt told the paper:

"We were pretty sure they wouldn’t mess with us, because they were locked in on each other. But it was pretty nerve-wracking seeing that.

We see an alligator pretty much every day, but that is the first time we’ve seen anything like that."

One commenter on the video suggested that the video was in fact the beginning of a mating ritual between the two reptiles.

Shannon Bradley Brown wrote: "The female alligator picks its mate by holding the snout of the male alligator down. If the male is strong enough to push her off, then he is the lucky guy. If she CAN hold his snout down and overpower him, she moves on to find a suitable mate."

Related - This family woke up to find a 9ft gator in their swimming pool:

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Alligators are a common sight on many golf courses in the US, especially alongside the course ponds and lakes. They are cold-blooded, and are sometimes seen basking on the course out in the sun in order to regulate their body temperature.

They are much more active during mating season, which runs from April through June.

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