Talk of Rio golf course involves mega rats, snakes

RIO DE JANEIRO — The first round of Olympic golf in 112 years was completed on Thursday without a single golfer being attacked by a boa constrictor, crocodile or any number of animals the golfers heard they might see on the course.

"It’s a good incentive to stay in the fairway," Britain’s Justin Rose told USA TODAY Sports. "The coolest thing to me is that mega rat that lives out here. I saw him on the fifth hole, the par 5."

That would be the cabybara, rodents that are built a little like John Daly and weigh as much as 145 pounds and stand up to two feet tall.

Patrick Reed of the United States was among the golfers that set out to separate fact from fiction regarding animal life on the course that reportedly is home to monkeys and three-toed sloths.

"I don’t know what’s true and what’s not," Reed said. "I heard there’s coral snakes out here. If there’s a boa constrictor, I’ll fight one of those before I’ll fight a coral snake.

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"The good thing is how many people we have around here. I think a boa constrictor, if you were to have any kind of encounter with a snake like that, you have enough people here where you could figure out a way to fight it off."

Reed was among several golfers that spotted an owl that has turned the greenside bunker on the ninth hole into his personal digs, and he also said during a practice round he spotted a crocodile alongside the No. 10 hole.

Ireland’s Seamus Power said he’d heard all about it.

"Hopefully I won’t see him all week," Power said, referring to the crocodile, not Reed. "I don’t want to be in that water on 10.

"I wouldn’t fancy too far into the bushes here. You wouldn’t survive very long."

PHOTOS: Critters on the Rio golf course