MATCH of the Day host Gary Lineker suffers from such bad arthritis he has had to quit golf.
Lineker, 59, is a member at exclusive Berkshire club Sunningdale — but said his condition has hampered his ability to play.
He said: “I don’t play any more because actually my fingers are so arthritic I can’t even hold a club. I don’t play but I have kept that membership.”
Asked if he would ever play again, he said: “Only watching.”
Lineker presented the BBC’s coverage of golf’s majors from 2005 to 2010 and plays off a handicap of four.
But the ex-England and Spurs striker, whose football career ended early because of a toe injury, said: “I had to work very hard at it. I loved golf."
“If I do something I want to do it as well as I can. It used to frustrate me though so much, golf."
“My golf was a bit like my football, I always felt. I was hopeless from long range but once I got close in I was quite good."
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"It’s a great game, golf, but I found it hugely frustrating.”
The BBC’s highest-paid presenter told the Rain Delay podcast: “I will tell you something about golf, it brings out the worst in you."
“There have been so many times I would walk off a golf course and think, ‘God, you behaved a bit like a prat today, get a grip’.”
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