By MICHAEL R. SISAK
Associated Press
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. (AP) — Eli Manning landed a fade within 5 feet but missed the putt, Bobby Flay cooked up a birdie, John McEnroe and José Andrés mugged for pictures with red, white and blue-clad fans and Catherine Zeta-Jones curtseyed on the tee box as the crowd serenaded her on the eve of her 56th birthday.
Those were some of the scenes Wednesday at the All-Star Celebrity Matches at the Ryder Cup at Bethpage Black, a light-hearted, laugh-filled 11-hole event pitting U.S. and European stars from the stage, screen, sports and culinary worlds — even Hogwarts.
Teams of two per side squared off in a modified scramble format on the golf course’s opening and closing stretches. Winning a hole earned a point. A tie was worth a half-point per side.
The U.S. won 25 to 19, earning early bragging rights before the pros tee it up on Friday.
Manning, the ex-New York Giants quarterback, and “Saturday Night Live” star Colin Jost led the way with 7.5 points. Manning’s former teammate, “Good Morning America” host Michael Strahan, teamed with country singer Miranda Lambert to put up 6 points, while singers Kane Brown and Noah Kahan accounted for 6.5 points for the U.S. side.
Andrés, the Spanish chef and humanitarian, and Finnish hockey great Teemu Selanne, were Europe’s only winning pair, 6-5 over TV chef Flay and tennis great McEnroe.
But the scoreboard didn’t seem to matter much to fans who lined the ropes for a glimpse of their favorite celebrities, or to the stars, who were playing to the crowd as much as they were lining up putts and sizing up tee shots.
“It’s awesome,” said Brown as he signed autographs and posed for pictures on the way to tee off on the celebrities’ second-to-last hole, the par-3 17th.
After Manning’s birdie miss on 14, a fan shouted: “Peyton would’ve made it!”
A few groups later and still no birdies on the hole, Andrés turned to the crowd and guaranteed one would fall. Andrés left his putt short, but Flay curled his in from about 15 feet. The “Food Network” star leaped into the air and gestured like he’d just won the Masters. Fans roared.
With Strahan just off the green, a fan helpfully yelled: “All you got to do is chip it in.” Puffing on a cigar, the pro football hall of famer replied, “That’s what I’m hoping for!” His shot came close, dancing to about two feet from the cup.
When Kahan was the only player in his group to land a shot on the green, he playfully pointed to himself and the ball, as if telling the crowd, “look what I did.”
Actors Tom Felton and Oliver Phelps from the “Harry Potter” films, playing in the same group for Europe, could’ve used some of their on-screen magic after they sent fans ducking with an errant tee shot. It hit a tree and fell harmlessly. Felton’s subsequent putt rattled around the cup but wouldn’t go in.
Brian Murphy, of East Rockaway, New York, didn’t mind the duffed shots or missed putts.
“It’s been refreshing to see people who are so high up on the social ladder just kind of play and shank a ball every now and then,” said Murphy. “It’s like, ‘Oh, my game isn’t that bad.’”
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
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