From World Cup to Ryder Cup: Soccer great Gianfranco Zola gives European team a lift

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FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — 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.”

The memories came back for Cameron Young as soon as he returned to Bethpage Black.

The U.S. Ryder Cup team member doesn't think he had been back since winning the New York State Open in 2017. Everything obviously looks much different this week outside the ropes, but everything on the course felt familiar.

“I feel like every year you get back to the same place, the time in between just goes away, and it’s the same thing coming in here,” Young said. “Walking out on the first tee, feels like I was here yesterday.”

Young shot a then-course-record 64 in the final round to catch Chris DeForest and then beat him in a playoff, becoming the first amateur to win the event. Even eight years later, the 28-year-old Young can remember specific details of his round.

“I hit a shot on 12,” Young said, “and I don’t know what it was to get to, but I think it was maybe a 6-iron, kind of into the wind to a left pin on 12, and that was just kind of where I knew that that day I just had control over what I was doing.”

He had long set a goal to get back to Bethpage for the Ryder Cup, but he needed another rally to make it. Young thought it was a long shot during the middle of this season, but he surged late, finishing in the top 12 in each of his final four events and being chosen as a captain's pick by Keegan Bradley.

Now Young will try to make new memories on the Black Course.

“Everything feels so much the same,” he said. “Obviously now there’s the stands and there’s some better players hanging around, but the golf itself just feels so much the same.”

The Junior Ryder Cup players won't get to finish up at Bethpage Black as scheduled.

The final-round singles matches on Thursday were shifted to Nassau Country Club because of the forecast for inclement weather that already forced a change to the main Ryder Cup program.

Nassau Country Club, located in Glen Cove, was the site of the foursomes and fourballs matches Tuesday and Wednesday between the teams of six boys and girls from the U.S. against Europe. The decision to keep singles play there was made after the Ryder Cup opening ceremony had already been moved up from Thursday to Wednesday because of rain in the forecast.

The U.S. has a 10-8 lead and needs 15 1/2 points to win back the trophy that Europe captured with a 20 1/2 to 9 1/2 victory in 2023.

Ken Griffey Jr. and his camera are back to work at the Ryder Cup.

The baseball Hall of Famer is working for the PGA of America's digital team at the Ryder Cup. He shot the Masters earlier this year for Masters.com.

Griffey, who said he got into photography when his kids began playing sports, had already shot the World Series, the All-Star game, NFL games and soccer — not to mention driving the pace car during his trip to the Indy 500 last year. The Masters was his first time shooting golf.

The Ryder Cup is packed with so much passion it can bring out emotion from players who don’t typically show much.

David Duval was fist-pumping his way around the green at his first Ryder Cup in 1999. Dustin Johnson had to think hard about the most emotion he showed and settled on a big fist pump (not that big) in the Ryder Cup in Medinah.

That led to questions of Cameron Young, the lone New Yorker in this Ryder Cup, known for rarely cracking a smile. Is there anything this week that could cause him to go crazy?

“Yeah, I think it could happen,” Young said with the slightest smile. “There’s nothing I would love more than to give myself an opportunity to see what I am capable of on that front.”

He is not alone.

Collin Morikawa was asked which American he would like to see get overcome by the energy of the Ryder Cup.

“I would love to see Cam Young just throw a massive fist pump in someone’s face. I would love it,” Morikawa said. “I mean, home state, home crowd, red, white and blue, played on the Junior Ryder Cup.”

Morikawa said he has known Young from junior and college golf, how competitive he is while remaining so stoic.

“Yeah, I would love to see a nice little putter raise, undercut, fist pump,” Morikawa said. “I don’t know if he’ll do it. He didn’t even smile after he won. So I’m hoping.”

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AP Golf Writer Doug Ferguson contributed to this report.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf