Bale, who is one of the 156 amateurs taking part alongside 156 professionals, put on a fine display, a great par save from the greenside cart path on the second a particular highlight as he bumped a chip to three feet.

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It was the former Real Madrid player's first appearance at the PGA Tour event, and he said: "Yeah for sure [I was nervous].

"I think every amateur will tell you they are out of their comfort zone, even though we are used to playing in front of 80,000 or more live on TV. It is a completely different sport.

"It is something that is just different and it is a cool experience, and I am lucky I hit one of my best shots down the first fairway which was nice."

Bale has been paired with former Korn Ferry Tour Championship winner Joseph Bramlett for the first three rounds in California and is enjoying getting a closer insight into a professional golfer's outlook.

"We met about a year ago and we have just been speaking over the year," he said.

"I said to him last week, let's prepare for this week. He had a great week last week and what a player.

"He is a world-class player. Just watching these players play, you can learn things and how they go about their business and how they do their process.

"It is just nice to watch and pick up things, their demeanour, their focus.

"It is different from what we were used to but it is similar to my profession. We have similar traits, so fantastic playing with him today."

Indeed, that professional experience came in handy on the second hole when, instead of picking up the ball, Bramlett made Bale putt for the "greatest up-and-down" and it came off.

"I am more worried about how I found myself [on the path] in the first place, but I guess a lot of amateurs find themselves in that position," Bale said.

"It was a great shot and I just tried to play into the bank and hope for the best like most amateurs do.

"It was nice to see it roll up nice and close and he was pretty much in for par so I was like 'I will pick it up' and he made me putt it because he was like 'this is going to be the greatest up-and-down'.

"I finished off nicely and it was a great shot, I can't really say much more."

Watch the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Early coverage continues on Friday from 4.30pm on Sky Sports Golf ahead of full coverage from 8pm.