Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia recently played reserve minutes for CF Borriol in the Spanish third division. The well known professional athlete was given the opportunity to play for the side due to the fact that he also is the club’s president. Garcia has been a lifelong football fan and playing professionally was always a dream of the former number two golfer in the world.
And now Garcia can cross that dream off of the list.
Garcia did only play in eight minutes of the 1-0 loss for his Borriol side, but several supporters of the club did mention that he looked a bit out of shape during his brief stretch on the pitch. Garcia has supposedly expressed interest in a second shot at playing for the club, but the coach is reportedly reluctant to give the golfer another chance. And of course Garcia would never had been considered for the shot if he did not also own the club, but I still think even though he is the boss of the side that what he is doing here is wrong for an owner of a sports team to do.
I think what makes it really wrong is that Garcia appears to be taking advantage of his celebrity status by even considering himself as a realistic option. Sure Garcia is a professional athlete, but he is a golfer. Not that golf isn’t a challenging athletic competition, but the most running Garcia has ever done is up a fairway after making a brilliant shot out of the rough. In other words there is no direct parallel of the two sports and there is no reason why Garcia should deem himself athletically worthy of the club that he owns.
Other celebrities across the world have done similar acts before including Garth Brooks and Billy Crystal both buying their way onto MLB spring training teams and several rap artists have done the same with the NBA summer basketball program as well, but the big difference is that Garcia owns the club that he is playing for and he is playing during a regular season match rather then a friendly.
Sure it is the lowly third tier and sure being the boss means you can enjoy certain perks, but imagine being a reserve on the lowly squad’s bench hoping for a chance to play. And Sergio Garcia beats you out for the job? Ouch. Garcia should hang up the boots for good now that he has gotten his chance to fulfill his dream because if he respects the footballers his front office has decided to sign then he will let them play their own sport for the good of his franchise and the good of his own credibility as an owner.
And if he decides not to do this then one of CF Borriol’s players should be forced to putt on the 18th green in place of Sergio at the next PGA tournament the Spaniard plays in. Because that would likely put it all in perspective for the famous golfer.