Brazilian World Cup winner Ronaldo and Roberto Donadoni, head coach of the Italian national team, are two of the many football personalities lined up to compete in the star-studded Pro-Am preceding next week’s Telecom Italia Open at the Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club on the outskirts of Milan.

The Pro-Am will be played on Wednesday May 2, an appropriate day for golf and football to come together, for as well as the curtain-raiser to the tournament itself – which takes place from Thursday May 3 to Sunday May 6 – the Pro-Am will also take place a few hours before the second leg of the Champions League semi-final between AC Milan and Manchester United at Milan’s San Siro stadium.

AC Milan striker Ronaldo – a three time winner of the FIFA World Player of the Year – is cup-tied for the semi-final having played in the competition this season already for Real Madrid, so will turn his attention to the golf course as his team-mates finalise their preparations to try and overturn the 3-2 deficit from the first leg at Old Trafford.

“Obviously I would love to be playing against Manchester United as it will be a great game and a great occasion at the San Siro but I am equally looking forward to competing in the Telecom Italia Open Pro-Am,” he said.

“I have played golf for a number of years now and I thoroughly enjoy the game and am trying hard to improve. But whatever happens, I will really enjoy testing my own golf game against the professionals of The European Tour.”

Another football personality guaranteed to draw a big crowd to the Pro-Am is current Italian national coach Donadoni, who succeeded Marcello Lippi, the manager who guided Italy to World Cup success in Germany in 2006.

A pillar of the powerhouse AC Milan teams of the late 1980 and the early 1990s, Donadoni was a vital cog in a side which won five Serie A titles, three European Cups, three European Super Cups and two Intercontinental Cups. He also played 63 times for Italy, scoring five goals.

Other Italian football luminaries to join Ronaldo and Donadoni at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club are Gianluca Vialli and Daniele Massaro.

Vialli – whose £12.5 million transfer fee between Sampdoria and Juventus in 1992 was a then world record – won the 1990 UEFA Cup Winners Cup with Sampdoria as well as the 1994 UEFA Cup and the 1996 Champions League, while former AC Milan striker Massaro’s most memorable season came in 1993-1994 when he was top scorer in Serie A before scoring two goals in AC Milan’s 4-0 Champions League final victory over Barcelona.

Donato di Ponziano, President of the Organising Committee of the Telecom Italia Open, said: “The Italian public love their sporting heroes whether they be footballers or golfers so to combine the two sports as we will do in the Pro-Am is fantastic and is guaranteed to bring the crowds out to Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club.”

Golfing stars competing in the Pro-Am and the tournament itself include Ian Woosnam and Tom Lehman, respective Captains of Europe and the United States at The 36th Ryder Cup at The K Club in Ireland in September 2006, and defending champion Francesco Molinari, who became the first Italian winner of the title in 26 years when he triumphed at Castello di Tolcinasco Golf and Country Club 12 months ago.

For further information, contact
Communications Division
The European Tour
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 840400
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 840444
Email: media@europeantour.com

Scott Crockett
Press Officer
The European Tour
Tel: +44 (0) 1344 840447
Fax: +44 (0) 1344 840444
Email: scrockett@europeantour.com