Europe’s star power at the Ryder Cup goes beyond the golfers on the course, now that Gianfranco Zola is manning one of its carts.
The former Chelsea soccer star from Italy is driving vice captain Francesco Molinari around Bethpage Black this week, perhaps able to offer some of his experiences from playing in major international competitions.
Justin Rose, who is a Chelsea fan from England, didn’t know Zola would be with the Europeans until bumping into him at the team’s hotel.
“I was just saying out there, I meet a lot of really cool people in my life through the game of golf. But I was like: ‘Whoa! Wow! Hey, Gianfranco!’ I was starstruck, which is amazing,” Rose said.
Rose has become a bigger soccer fan in recent years thanks to his 16-year-old son. So he acknowledged not being fully aware of some of Zola’s career highlights, which included scoring the winning goal for Chelsea in the 1998 Cup Winners’ Cup final, being voted the club’s best player ever in 2003 and helping Italy finish as the runner-up in the 1994 World Cup.
“But I think his energy, what he can provide, I think he’s here just to sort of in a sense not — let’s call it fly on the wall,” Rose said. “But I think if there’s a moment that he observes and can kind of chime in and can understand the pressure or can understand momentum or locker room mentality, then obviously there’s probably going to be something this week where he can relay a really powerful message.”
“Hopefully he has that opportunity, because I’d love to hear it.”
On Long Island, Team USA’s top golfers got to take a crack Monday at the Bethpage Black course ahead of the Ryder Cup. The golf tournament is expected to attract thousands of fans from all over the world, leaving businesses getting ready to make some green off those attendees heading to the green. NBC New York’s John Chandler and Pei-Sze Cheng report.
AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.