Gareth Bale was unexpectedly interrupted at the Alfred Dunhill Links Pro Am when a playful dog snatched his golf ball on the course. The former Tottenham Hotspur and Real Madrid star was in good company, alongside the likes of Andy Murray, Ruud Gullit, Kevin Pietersen, Bill Murray and Piers Morgan at St Andrews.
But it was a cheeky pooch that grabbed the limelight when it sprinted after Bale's shot onto the green. Spotted by Wales Online, the dog stole up the ball and hilariously placed it back where it started, much to the delight of some spectators.
As the situation unfolded and chuckles of laughter spread, one woman – probably the dog’s owner – was heard in a panic, crying out: "Oh, no, no!" Bale, currently paired with Daniel Brown and sitting at tied 18th place at 19 under, watched as Belgian Nicholas Colsaerts took the lead with 14 under.
Meanwhile, David Law claimed third position and Rory McIlroy found himself further down at 49th place. Impressively, Bale has brought his handicap down to scratch, confirming his status as one of the top amateur golfers.
In an interview with Sky Sports earlier this year, Bale explained that he played golf during his playing career to take his mind off the pressures and scrutiny. The former Wales international said: "It [love of golf] actually started quite late for me to be honest.
"We were at Tottenham at the time, and there was quite a few of the boys playing golf. It's kind of a tradition in British football, a lot of the boys play. They invited me one day, I got a set of clubs and kind of just got addicted from there on in."
Bale added: "We had a group of seven or eight of us that used to go out every couple of weeks, whenever we had time, and yeah I got addicted straight away. I had the big banana slice like you do at the start, and I've been working on it ever since to be honest."
The Welshman featured at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship Pro Am last year, scoring an impressive one-under-par. Bale said: "Obviously golf is one of the most frustrating sports mentally, but for me, because there's so much pressure in football and people are constantly on top of you, there's scrutiny and media and stuff...
"I always used it as: You have four and a half hours, whether you're with friends or on your own, just to get away from life and all the pressures of football and just have this battle with the golf course and golf ball.
"It was that sort of freedom that I guess really kept me mentally sane during my career, and it helped me a lot to overcome those pressures. I used golf as a tool to help my career to be honest.
"It definitely gave me that calmness and time I needed on my own to reset every time after big games or training or a lot of stuff happening at once."