THE Ryder Cup is the one week in every two-year cycle when elite golfers get to experience what it feels like to be a footballer.
So who better for the Chelsea-supporting European veteran Justin Rose to bump into than Gianfranco Zola?
Justin Rose couldn’t believe he bumped into Gianfranco Zola at Bethpage Black ahead of the Ryder Cup[/caption]
At the age of 45 and contesting his seventh Ryder Cup, the former U.S Open champion and Olympic gold medallist admits he very rarely gets starstruck.
Rose had not been told that Zola would be an unofficial part of the European team this weekend so when he met the Italian at the team hotel, he was gobsmacked.
A friend of vice-captain and fellow Italian Francesco Molinari, the former darling of Stamford Bridge will be driving a buggy and bringing his warm personality into Luke Donald’s team room here on Long Island.
And Rose said: “He is obviously a Chelsea legend and clearly I’m a Chelsea fan.
“I didn’t know he was coming this week. So it was a huge surprise, as he was, literally, one of the first people I bumped into. I was coming around a corner in the hotel, towards the lifts, and bumped into him.
“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.
“You know, football hits differently to golf, especially back at home, and the career he’s had was amazing.
“I’ve become more of an engaged football fan in the last decade, I would say. I have a 16-year-old-son who’s mad about his football. So it’s a thing we connect with now.
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“I would say my knowledge of football history and really knowing Zola’s greatest hits and highlights, I’d not quite be there.
“But his energy, what he can provide, I think he’s here as, let’s call it fly on the wall.
“If there’s a moment that he observes and can chime in and can understand the pressure or can understand momentum or the locker-room mentality, then 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.”
In golfing parlance, the diminutive Zola was something of a tricky five-footer during his days as one of the Premier League’s first great foreign imports.
The former West Ham manager is also a keen golfer and Donald hopes he can use his footballing experience to help the Europeans handle a fiercely partisan American crowd.
Asked about dealing with potential hostility, Zola told Sky Sports: “First of all you have to be able to enter a kind of protection bubble.
“This is one of the first things you need to learn when you play football because the environment is like that.
“So you need to use it to your advantage, you have to get motivated by that.
“From what I see, they (the European players) look so easy, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
“It is great to be here. I have known Frankie (Molinari) for years – we have played the Dunhill Links (pro-am) Championships together. I’m looking forward to a great week.”
Along with Rory McIlroy, Rose is the only European to experience the thrill of winning a Ryder Cup on American soil, with both men part of the epic comeback in the Miracle of Medinah in 2012.
That was the only away win for either side in this fixture for the past two decades – and Europe’s team will play their final practice rounds on Thursday in the purple shirts worn at Medinah.
Rose believes there will be an even greater intensity about this week’s atmosphere than in Illinois 13 years ago.
He said: “We’re going to be wearing the 2012 shirts, that sort of deep purple, which I had the privilege of wearing at Medinah, which was an amazing week but also a tough week for the first two full days, or until the very end of Saturday, and then Sunday turned it around.
“The Chicago crowd was an intense arena to play in, very difficult. You really began to understand how important momentum is.
“You don’t want to compare anything to New York but Chicago was also a big crowd. The scale of the Ryder Cup seems to have kicked on massively in the last decade.
“Each occasion is getting more and more intense, which is a lot of fun.
“This week it is starting to ramp up as we get closer to the start line, it’s all starting to feel very real, and the intensity of it is going to grow as the week goes on.
“I don’t know how to compare it to Medinah just yet – but Medinah was very intense.”
Ryder Cup 2025 – all the info
The Ryder Cup is back THIS WEEK as Team Europe hope to defend their crown on American soil
Luke Donald‘s team has travelled to New York ahead of the big start on Friday.
Europe has dominated the prestigious competition in the 21st century, winning eight of the 11 meetings since 2002.
But only two of those wins have come in the United States, with Team USA winning both the 2021 and 2016 competitions.
In fact, Team Europe has only won one of the four Ryder Cups held in the US – 2012 – since their win there in 2004 and Team USA enter as the odds-on bookies’ favourites.
Here’s everything you need to know about the Ryder Cup 2025…
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All the info
- Dates, time, confirmed teams and format
- How to watch the Ryder Cup
- Is there prize money?
- Ryder Cup rich list revealed
Latest news
- Fans get free food and drink… as part of $750 entry fee
- Major change to course
- McIlroy reignites DeChambeau feud days before Ryder Cup
- EXCL – I played the brutal course and embarrassed myself
- Donald aims swipe at Team USA over pay dispute
- Meet the Team Europe WAGs
- Brooklyn Beckham and Catherine Zeta-Jones star in All-stars match
