The Loop

PGA Tour pros have emotional meeting with … some guy they met through a video game

November 15, 2019

I have never played the video game Call of Duty so I can't speak to the bonds of friendship created by sharing a (fake) foxhole. But the following video will prove that technology does in fact bring people, including PGA Tour pros, from all over the world together. And can even lead to (gasp!) face-to-face meetings between millennials.

Here's the backstory. Apparently, Harold Varner III and Carlos Ortiz are hooked on Call of Duty in addition to being PGA Tour pros. Hey, you've got to pass all that time spent in hotels somehow, right? But at some point while playing with each other remotely, they came across a guy named Arturo. This young man from Mexico was so good at the game that Varner and Ortiz became virtual teammates with him and eventually actual friends spending as much as five hours a day talking with him while they played. And with the tour coming to Mexico for this week's Mayakoba Golf Classic, the trio decided to take their friendship to the next level—or what used to be the first level when I was growing up—by actually meeting in person.

Varner flew Arturo up to Cancun and his hosting him during the tournament (the kid must be a Call of Duty phenom). And the PGA Tour documented these unlikely three amigos finally coming together. Check it out:

There are some good jabs in there, especially Arturo's line that HV3 is "bald and fat." And you have to respect him threatening to never play with Varner again if he doesn't win this week's tournament.

All kidding aside, it's a sweet story—especially the part where the two tour pros cheered up Arturo after learning his dad died unexpectedly in April. And Ortiz has already worked on securing Arturo a job when he graduates school. See, parents? Video games can pay off.