Sports

Jordan providing ‘Air’ support to U.S. Ryder Cup team

MEDINAH, Ill. — There will be a lot of special guests flowing in and out of the U.S. Ryder Cup team room, but none will carry the athletic prowess of Michael Jordan, who is an unofficial assistant of sorts to American captain Davis Love III.

“He doesn’t have an official role except that he’s one of our buddies, and we like having him around,’’ Love said Tuesday. “He was an assistant for Fred [Couples at the Presidents Cup] and I asked him what he wanted to do this week. We’re going to have him in the team room. He’s just a good motivation for a lot of these guys that don’t know him.’’

Tiger Woods, who called Jordan “my big brother,’’ recalled the first time he met the former NBA great.

“The first time I had ever been around him he had fed me some beverages and the next day was a little bit more difficult than I would like it to be,’’ Woods said yesterday. “But I still shot some really good numbers that day and made an eagle on the last hole to win.

“Michael being who he has been in the sport and what he’s done, for him to be a part of this is special for us,’’ Woods added. “This is one of the greatest athletes to ever live and he wants to be a part of golf and share with us what he’s been through. For us, that’s incredible.”

“To have him be a part of this it’s priceless for a lot of these guys. I guess for me, because I consider him like my big brother and have gotten to know him so well over the years, I may take that for granted. But some of the other guys who don’t really know Michael, I think it’s a real treat for them.’’

European captain Jose Maria Olazabal first got to know Jordan when he came to his first Ryder Cup, in 1997 at Valderrama.

“Michael had a presence wherever he goes,’’ Olazabal said. “He loves this event. Obviously, he loves the game of golf. He’s a very competitive guy. He has the heart and spirit of a team player. He was an icon. I’m pretty sure he will bring quite a bit to the equation on the U.S. team.’’

The pairings for Friday morning’s foursome matches will not be announced by the captains until tomorrow afternoon, but yesterday’s practice rounds provided an indicator of likely pairings.

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For the U.S., Phil Mickelson, Keegan Bradley, Bubba Watson and Webb Simpson played together. The other groups featured Dustin Johnson, Zach Johnson, Jason Dufner and Matt Kuchar and the third group was Woods, Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker, last week’s Tour Championship and Fed-Ex Cup winner.

For the Europeans, their first practice group was composed of Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood, Luke Donald and Justin Rose. The next group was Graeme McDowell, Rory McIlroy, Paul Lawrie and Sergio Garcia and the third group was Martin Kaymer, Nicolas Colsaerts, Francesco Molinari and Peter Hanson.

The most obvious, not-secret pairing is Woods and Stricker, who have been paired together in team competitions over the last several years.

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They played a “Captains/Celebrity Challenge’’ Tuesday featuring past Ryder Cup captains paired with celebrities.

Hal Sutton and Lanny Wadkins played with swimmer Michael Phelps and actor George Lopez, Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw played with former Bulls forward Scottie Pippen and former Bears defensive end Richard Dent, Tom Lehman and Dave Stockton played with singer Justin Timberlake and actor Bill Murray and Corey Pavin and Lee Trevino played with former Cubs legend Ernie Banks and former Blackhawks great Stan Mikita.

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McDowell, who won the decisive point for the Europeans in 2010 called this year’s Ryder Cup a competition between “perhaps the two best teams that have ever been assembled in my opinion at the Ryder Cup, certainly on paper, anyway.’’