Gareth Bale uses Steph Curry golf story to defend his playing of sport

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European soccer fans take the sport very seriously. Very seriously.

So seriously that they have a problem with Real Madrid midfielder Gareth Bale's desire to play golf on his down time. Apparently, this is a big point of controversy across the pond.

In an interview with Erik Anders Lang, Bale was asked about the complicated relationship he has with golf, and citied Warriors star Steph Curry's love for the game as a reason why it should be OK for him to play whenever he wants.

"Well, you wouldn't think it would be, but yeah, a lot of people have problems with me playing golf," Bale said recently. "I don't know what their reason is because I've spoken to doctors and this, that and the other and everybody's fine with it. But, especially the media have this perception that it's not good for me, you should be resting, it can cause injuries. I've looked in America, for example, I know Steph Curry plays maybe on the morning of his game."

What is Bale referring to?

On Dec. 4, 2019, former Warriors forward Andre Iguodala appeared on Anders Lang's podcast and revealed that Curry played 18 holes of golf in Phoenix before scoring 42 points against the Suns later that day. Oh, and the Warriors had played in Oakland the previous night, where they beat the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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Curry played nearly 30 minutes against the Timberwolves, played a round of golf the next morning, and then played 35 minutes against the Suns. All in less than a 30-hour span.

"Like, we got a game tomorrow and it's important for him to play well," Iguodala told Anders Lang. "If I don't play well, it's whatever they ain't going to blame me. But he played great that day. He shot in the 70s like he always does ... I shot OK. I shot in the 80s so I was happy around that time. So I might have broke 90 that day and I was happy. I didn't play well that night because I was like, 'Whatever.'

"But he had like 40 that night. He had 40 that night. He killed them. And I was joking with him, 'If anyone on our team knew what we did today ...' Because nobody knew. Steve [Kerr] knew though. Steve was like, 'You guys better play good today.' Then he was like, 'Steph you should play golf every day."

In the win over the Timberwolves, Curry didn't play particularly well, finishing with 19 points on 7 of 18 shooting. So maybe he needed to hit the links to clear his head.

It clearly worked because he went 15 of 25 in the win over the Suns.

Ironically, Curry didn't play three days later when the Warriors hosted the New Orleans Pelicans.

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I'm not one to tell a professional athlete in peak physical condition what they can or cannot do, but Curry's golf outing came a few days before the start of the 2017 NBA playoffs. If he had pulled a muscle and missed postseason games, Kerr might have had a different reaction.

But Curry and Bale should be able to play a little golf on their down time. Fans everywhere need to relax and let these athletes live their life.

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