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Gareth Bale has enjoyed an accomplished start to his PGA Tour career after the opening day of action at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach. Playing alongside professional golfer, Joseph Bramlett, the pair carded a first-round score of 65.
The duo are currently tied for 18th on the leaderboard after day one on -7 and are five shots adrift of Will Gordon and his amateur partner, Thomas Dundon. Bale and Bramlett will be hoping to make inroads on day two as the Welshman looks to lift his first trophy away from football.
Bale only retired from professional football last month but has always been a keen golfer. He currently plays off a handicap of two but former US Open champion, John Rahm, believes he should be playing off less than that after enjoying a round with him at Torrey Pines last week.
The Spaniard said: “He has no business being that good when he’s a professional football player. When he can actually practice more, he’s going to get a lot better. He’s got two strokes in the Prom-Am, which I think is already wrong. He should be giving strokes back to the rest of the amateurs because he is a very, very good player.”
A solid round sprinkled with greatness
The former Real Madrid and Wales star enjoyed a solid opening round alongside Bramlett. Although Bale admitted to feeling nerves on the opening tee he managed the find the fairway with his first shot of the day.
The standout moment of Bale’s round came on the second hole, though. Overshooting the green, he found himself playing a recovery shot from a path knowing that he needed to get up and down to save par.
Multi-sport athlete ⚽️
The cart path is no problem @GarethBale11. pic.twitter.com/7EOuM3IE4M
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 2, 2023
He hit a miraculous shot off the bank of the green and ended up just a couple of feet away from the hole. He finished the putt off comfortably with many professionals on the course labelling it the shot of the day. Speaking about it afterwards, Bale said:
“I am more worried about how I found myself on the path in the first place, but I guess a lot of amateurs find themselves in that position. It was a great shot and I just tried to play into the bank and hope for the best like most amateurs do. I finished it off nicely and it was a great shot, I can’t really say much more.”
A partnership that has been brewing for a while
Bale’s partnership with Joseph Bramlett has been a year in the making after the pair began exchanging messages in 2022. Bale is keen to ensure that he takes in as much information from the world number 217 as the week progresses:
“He is a world-class player. Just watching these players play, you can learn things and how they go about their business and how they do their process. It is just nice to watch and pick up things, their demeanour, and their focus.
It is different from what we were used to but it is similar to my profession. We have similar traits, so fantastic playing with him today.”
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