Gareth Bale shuts down speculation as he sets the record straight – 'There won't be any'

Gareth Bale has rejected the idea of becoming a professional golfer, committing his impressive skills on the fairways as just a hobby for now. The Welsh footballing legend has also declined to comment on the subject of a potential plan to purchase Cardiff City.

The 36-year-old was spotted at the AIG Women's Open, hosted near his birthplace in Royal Porthcawl. However, when asked by BBC Sport Wales if he'd ever consider taking the sport up full-time, Bale was adamant that golf would remain a leisurely activity.

He said: "When you are in golf and you see professional golfers play, compared to even your best stuff, it is nowhere near. Never mind just playing with your friends, they are doing it under the most severe pressure, in tournament conditions, in hard weather... so there won't be any professional [golf] for me.

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"But I love the game. I love watching it, I love growing it and that's why we are here."

On his golf routine, Bale added: "I try to play twice a week if I can – if I can get another practice session it's always a bonus."

While Bale enjoys his time on the golf course, his post-retirement days might be occupied with running the Bluebirds. Despite a "brand new offer" from Bale's group earlier this month, the ex-Real Madrid ace kept quiet when asked during the golf tournament.

Bale is part of a consortium with ambitions to take over his hometown club, having previously told Front Office Sports Today that the current bid on the table represents a "great offer."

Speaking earlier this month, Bale said: "It's exciting news, we have a brand new offer on the table, it's recently just gone in. We think it's a great offer, one that we're very happy with.

"We think it's very fair, if not more than fair, and it's something we hope the current owners will take serious.

"We'd love them to accept so we can take full control and get on with what we want to do and create Cardiff into a club that we know it can be."

Current Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan is understood to have little appetite for selling the club, though Bale remains optimistic that a deal could materialise down the line.

This comes as Cardiff prepare to launch their League One campaign on Saturday, hosting Peterborough United in an early kick-off.

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