Second Ryder Cup practice day confirms two European pairings
Published:It seems as though Colin Montgomerie isn’t holding any surprises for Friday morning’s fourballs after pairing the Molinari brothers and the Northern Irish duo together in Wednesday’s practice session.
The general consensus between previous Ryder Cup captains has been to keep the fourball and foursome combinations close to your chest.
But by pairing Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, and Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy together for the second day running, it’s safe to assume the four will play a huge part in helping Europe get off to a flyer on Friday morning.
Monty obviously believes that the natural pairings are the key to Europe getting a good start and they are 11/10 to win Friday morning’s fourballs.
The decision by Monty is a strong show of strength to his opposite number Corey Pavin but could be construed in some quarters as overconfidence from the European captain.
Europe are strong 8/13 favourites to win the Ryder Cup and confidence in the European dressing room is high.
With all the attention focused on Tiger Woods, the US team have been going about their business professionally and it may be that the US team are cautiously optimistic of their chances of winning – they are 13/8 to win.
But whilst two pairings seemingly confirmed, Monty has tinkered with the rest of the team sending Padraig Harrington out with Peter Hanson, Miguel Angel Jimenez with Ian Poulter, Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher and a potentially lethal pairing in Luke Donald and Martin Kaymer.
Kaymer is a Ryder Cup rookie but his ability under pressure isn’t in doubt after winning the USPGA Championship in a play-off, and the solid German will benefit from the Ryder Cup experience of Luke Donald should they play together.
Kaymer is 4/1 to be the top debutant. See the full 2010 Ryder Cup betting odds market here.
