Colin Montgomerie and Butch Harmon review the captains' pairs for the first morning of the Ryder Cup.
Tough job ahead for Europe, says Monty
Jose Maria Olazabal has made predictable foursomes selections for the opening morning of the Ryder Cup, Colin Montgomerie told
Sky Sports.
Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell will kick-off Europe's campaign to retain the Ryder Cup after being paired together in the first foursomes match of the 2012 contest against Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker.
The second match sees Keegan Bradley with his mentor Phil Mickelson for the USA up against Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia. Jason Dufner and Zac Johnson will take on Lee Westwood and Francesco Molinari in match three, while Steve Stricker and Tigers Woods take on England's Ian Poulter and Justin Rose in the final foursome.
"There are no real surprises for Europe," said Montgomerie. "I am slightly surprised by the Molinari and Westwood pairing as I thought Paul Lawrie would be playing alongside Westwood.
"I felt Lawrie is playing the golf of his life so I thought he would get a shot to start with. Peter Hanson is playing the best golf of anyone and Martin Kaymer has not been playing well but putts very well and Nicolas Colsaerts is mainly a fourball player and may well be playing in the afternoon.
"I don't know if these four players have been asked to play in the afternoon or not so we don't know if they are going to play all 12 on the first day. I would anticipate that they would play in the afternoon though.
"Olazabal has got a tough job on his hands - he has the crowd against him and the fact that Davis has set up the course means that it favours America. This is going to be very difficult - but he has set out a good eight here. He has a great team and we wish him well."
Shake it up
The pairing of Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner was the only surprise for Butch Harmon, who believes that Davis Love III will be using all 12 players on day one.
"The pairing of Zach Johnson and Jason Dufner kind of shocked me," admitted Harmison. "But both captains are going to try and play all 12 guys tomorrow so you had to shake it up a little.
"Davis Love has told me that that is his goal - to get everyone out. But you have got to wait to see how the teams play in the morning - if you get a hot team, well, as Monty will tell you, you don't want to set them down . We will have to wait and see."
