McDowell and McIlroy paired together on first practice day
Published:The first practice morning of the Ryder Cup didn’t spring any major surprises as Colin Montgomerie and Corey Pavin suggest possible pairings for Friday morning’s fourballs.
There weren’t many surprises on the European front with the Molinari brothers, Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, Lee Westwood and Martin Kaymer all paired together.
But Peter Hanson and Miguel Angel Jimenez joined the three pairs in the morning practice session, which suggests Hanson may get play his first Ryder Cup match on Friday morning.
Hanson is the 33/1 outsider to be the European teams top point scorer and 12/1 to be the top European rookie, but a strong performance in Friday morning’s fourballs would leave Monty with the difficult task of leaving him out.
Ian Poulter and Ross Fisher are paired together this afternoon along with Luke Donald and Padraig Harrington.
Unsurprisingly, Corey Pavin paired Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker together after their Presidents Cup where they won all four matches they played together.
Hunter Mahan, a decent bet at 10/1 to be the USA top point scorer having never lost a Ryder Cup match, was paired with wild card pick Zach Johnson, and fellow wild card Stewart Cink was paired with Matt Kuchar.
Zach Johnson is a strong contender at 4/1 to be the top USA wild card pick with everyone unsure just how Tiger will fare this week, and Johnson has a proven record in the Ryder Cup with two points from a possible four.
Jim Furyk and Jeff Overton make up the final pairing before Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson and Rickie Fowler are sent out later this afternoon.
Europe continue to be supported in the 2010 Ryder Cup betting odds market with their price to win shortening from 8/13 to 4/7. See the full 2010 Ryder Cup betting odds market here.
