US Ryder Cup skipper Davis Love called in the big names as he strove to fire up his team ahead of their bid to regain the trophy from Europe.
The first-time captain has already made it clear that basketball legend Michael Jordan will be encouraged to play a motivational role in inspiring a US win on Sunday.
And several showbiz celebrities and former sports greats with Chicago clubs were in action on the course on Tuesday playing a 2012 Ryder Cup Captains and Celebrity Scramble golf event over 10 holes of the Medinah Country Club layout.
These included golf addicts Bill Murray and Justin Timberlake as well as Ernie Banks (baseball), Richard Dent (American football), Stan Mikita (ice hockey) and Scottie Pippen (basketball)
Olympics swim legend Michael Phelps was also taking part in what was being seen as an attempt to whip up enthusiasm among Chicago’s boisterous sports fans before the event starts on Friday.
Love said his close friend Freddie Couples had given Jordan, who played for most of his career with the Chicago Bulls, a similar role at the President’s Cup last year.
“He’s entertaining, watching, and we’re going to have him in the team room if he wants to come in, or we’re going to have him hang out in the locker room. He’s just a good motivation for a lot of these guys that don’t know him,” Love said.
“He doesn’t have an official role except for he’s one of our buddies and we like having him around.
“And I just ran into Bill Murray, Justin Timberlake, George Lopez, Tom Lehman; it’s pretty fun if you come in over there in our player dining room or our locker room.
“We’ve got a bunch of guys – Michael Phelps is out there playing today. We have got a lot of people that have a lot of interest in The Ryder Cup, and that’s pretty cool.”
It was all in stark contrast to the approach taken by European captain Jose Maria Olazabal, who said he preferred a more low-key, focused approach for his side with the passion coming from within.
“I believe that the players do have a lot of passion for this event. They know what this event is all about. They know it’s unique,” he said.