Europeans indicate likely pairings

On a bright but damp morning at the K Club, he paired Colin Montgomerie with fellow Briton David Howell and put Englishmen Paul Casey and Luke Donald together in the first group out.

His second group featured Swedish rookies Henrik Stenson and Robert Karlsson, along with Spaniards Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia.

Bringing up the rear were Irish duo Padraig Harrington and Paul McGinley and the experienced British combination of Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, Woosnam's two wildcard picks.

"I think it's important to see how things go," Woosnam said of his practice pairings.

"There are so many different pairings I can use. I want to see how everybody is performing over the next two days before I actually put out my pairings on Friday.

"I might carry on with what I've got already for Wednesday, but I might make a couple of alterations tomorrow night."

While Woosnam could still make a few tweaks for his opening pairings, his opposite number Tom Lehman says he has already inked in his fourball combinations.

When the Americans began their first practice session on Tuesday, world number one Tiger Woods was paired with Jim Furyk, Chris DiMarco with Phil Mickelson and David Toms with Chad Campbell in Lehman's strongest permutations.

His other pairings featured Scott Verplank with Brett Wetterich, Vaughn Taylor with fellow rookie Zach Johnson and Stewart Cink with J.J. Henry.

"I think Tom is going to come out with the strongest team he possibly can the first day, and I'm going to try to go out with my strongest team," Woosnam added.

"So I'm going to go out with the guys who are playing the strongest in practice, definitely."

Holders Europe, who have won four of the last five matches against the U.S., are being billed as favorites this week for the first time.

Hardly surprisingly, Woosnam is delighted with the quality and depth in his 12-man team.

"We've got 12 great players this year and this is probably the strongest team we've ever had," he said.