Pitch & putt: Soccer star Bale in golf video game

Gareth Bale‘s love for golf has been well-documented, and the former Real Madrid and Wales forward has swapped the pitch for the green after becoming a playable character in the PGA Tour 2K23 video game.

Bale, 34, made his PGA Tour debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am in February after calling time on his glittering soccer career at the start of the year. He also teed off alongside Rory McIlroy at this week’s BMW PGA Championship Celebrity Pro-Am.

His passion for the sport often led to criticism while he was in Madrid, especially in 2019 after he celebrated with a Welsh flag that read: “Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order.”

The former Wales captain, who featured on the cover of Electronic Arts’ FIFA 14 video game alongside Lionel Messi, has now been added to PGA Tour 2K23, which includes a course custom-designed by Bale.

“I’m Gareth Bale. I’m here getting scanned in PGA Tour 2K23,” he said in a video shared on social media.

Bale played for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur before joining Real in 2013 for a then-world record deal worth 100 million euros ($106.55 million), where he won five Champions League titles among several other major honors.

He led Wales to the Euro 2016 semifinals and to its first World Cup since 1958 at last year’s tournament in Qatar. Bale’s tally of 111 caps and 41 international goals are both records for the Wales men’s team.