Living up to the hype that is being built up around the 44th edition of the Ryder Cup that will be played in Italy rom September 29 to October 1, an extended list of celebrities will line up for an exhibition game that will act as a curtain raiser to the biennial trans-Atlantic tournament.
The All-Star Match will see well-known athletes from other fields, musicians and cine stars turn out at Marco Simone Golf and Country Club in Rome on September 27. The list includes 24-time grand slam winner and US Open champion Novak Djokovic, soccer greats Gareth Bale and Andriy Shevchenko, Ferrari’s Formula One driver Carlos Sainz, Hollywood star Kathryn Newton, and former Super Bowl winner Victor Cruz amongst others.
And unlike previous editions of the All-Star game, it will not be a Ryder Cup reflection as in Europe versus the USA but mixed teams led by two Ryder Cup icons from either side of the Atlantic, American Corey Pavin and Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie, who will lead teams named after them. The two are former Ryder Cup captains who went head-to-head in the 2010 edition.
Meanwhile, nine members of Team USA and their captain, Zach Johnson, flew down to Rome last week for a site visit and to get a feel of a venue Europe are banking on to reverse the humiliation of the 2021 encounter on American soil where the home side won by a record 19-9 margin.
A good number of the US side have little to no experience of playing the Marco Simone which is the venue of the Italian Open on the DP World (European) Tour. Over the weekend the Americans, minus Tokyo Olympics champion Xander Schauffele, Jordan Speith and Patrick Cantlay held a series of practice games before heading home after having arrived in Rome on Friday.
Johnson and his Europe counterpart, Luke Donald of England, have come in for heavy criticism over their respective captain’s picks. On the American side, Justin Thomas is the one whose selection has been pilloried the most while Donald has faced considerable flak for leaving out Poland’s Adrian Meronk, a two-time winner this year including the Italian Open at Marco Simone.
With two weeks still to go, most members of Team Europe will be turning out at the BMW PGA Championship later this week at Wentworth while amongst the Americans, only Thomas and Max Homa are likely to be in action at the Fortinet Championship. As defending champions, Team USA are hoping to pull off back-to-back victories, something they have not
achieved since 1991 and 1993, which was also the last time the Americans won on European turf.