Rory McIlroy friendship, scratch handicap, dog incident - Gareth Bale's golf adventures

Gareth Bale has enjoyed a fruitful 22 months in another sport following his retirement from professional football in January 2023. During the latter stages of his career, Bale started to play golf more frequently and his eagerness to do that has seemingly only increased since hanging up his boots.

The Welshman regularly competes in Pro-Am tournaments and has subsequently become friends with a number of professionals in the sport, including Rory McIlroy. While he has continued opting to play sports rather than coach or talk about them, he will be appearing on TNT Sports' coverage of the Champions League clash between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

Having scored twice, which included a stunning over head kick, in the final between those two teams back in 2018, Bale has a rich history with this fixture on the European stage. Though football is the sport that will take his focus on Wednesday evening, it will likely return to golf very soon.

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With that being said, football.london has taken a look at all the huge, surprising and hilarious moments he has already experienced in golf.

McIlroy friendship

Having teamed up with each other at the BMW PGA Championship in September, Bale and McIlroy have clearly built up a strong friendship.

"It was a scramble format, so I didn't have a real score," Bale told football.london when asked how he did in the event. "I was taking shots after Rory's drives so my shots were always from the middle of the fairway. Talk about pressure."

McIlroy has also spoken about Bale when asked about footballers turning to golf. Speaking on the Stick to Football podcast earlier this year, Mcllroy said: "I’ve played with Teddy Sheringham – good player. Gareth Bale – he has the potential to get to scratch [a handicap of zero].

"The way he hits the ball he could be a scratch player, but he’s only played for the last few years. There is a difference between being able to hit the golf ball well and getting yourself around the golf course and managing your game – that’s the part he’s [Gareth Bale] learning now."

Scratch handicap

A scratch handicap is a golf handicap of zero, meaning a golfer can consistently play at or below par on any course and McIlroy could well have been proven right on his major Bale prediction from nearly 12 months ago.

For his participation in September Pro-Am, Bale's handicap was given a 0.5 handicap but it has since been claimed he is now at zero which would mean he is considered a scratch golfer. Bale may have a few more dates lined up on his golf calendar for the coming months which may see his handicap officially confirmed at that value.

Dog incident

Though he is clearly taking golf very seriously to be within touching distance of a scratch handicap, Bale has been part of some funny moments on the course. The latest of those took place at a celebrity Pro-Am event in Scotland when the ball Bale perfectly chipped onto the green was taken hostage by a dog.

While there was attempts made to get the action back underway, Bale watched on with a smile on his face. The incident was eventually solved and, as per the rules of golf, Bale was allowed to replace his ball at the spot it was in before the dog arrived.