America captain Curtis Strange hinted today that his first day Ryder Cup pairings are already decided with Tiger Woods likely to partner Mark Calcavecchia against Europe on Friday.
Both the American and European teams were given their first taste of the Belfry course in a practice session this morning.
Woods and Calcavecchia practised with Paul Azinger and rookie Stewart Cink. David Duval and Davis Love III, Phil Mickelson and David Toms, Jim Furyk and Scott Hoch and Hal Sutton and Scott Verplank also paired up.
Strange would not confirm whether the partnerships would be mirrored when the fourballs and foursomes were played on Friday and Saturday.
But he added: "Practice rounds are very important. You can use the players how you think you might play them in the matches. Put it this way: there is an agenda out there."
Woods and the highly-experienced Calcavecchia would seem an obvious pairing. As Strange explained, they are good friends and often practise together at regular tournaments and off duty.
The European practice pairings were Thomas Bjorn and Darren Clarke, Colin Montgomerie and Lee Westwood, Niclas Fasth and Padraig Harrington, Pierre Fulke and Phillip Price, Sergio Garcia and Bernhard Langer and Paul McGinley and Jesper Parnevik.
European captain Sam Torrance said: "You can read a lot into today's practice pairings, sure. But on the other hand they're playing as four-balls so who's playing with whom?"