The initial draw for the Seve Trophy was made today at Druids Glen where the bi-annual three-day team event between Britain and Ireland and Continental Europe gets under way tomorrow.
Captained by the inspirational Seve Ballesteros, Continental Europe will be seeking their second win in the Ryder Cup style event after the mercurial Spaniard defeated Colin Montgomerie, Britain and Ireland captain, in the final singles match to claim the inaugural title at Sunningdale two years ago.
Several interesting pairings were drawn for the opening greensomes ties. Padraig Harrington teams up with fellow Irishman Paul McGinley, the winning combination from the 1997 World Cup, as they take on Sweden’s Mathais Gronberg and Alex Cejka from Germany in the third match.
Darren Clarke will follow alongside his ISM (International Sports Management) stablemate, Lee Westwood, in the last match against the French pair, Raphael Jacquelin and Thomas Jacquelin.
The greensomes format allows both players in each team to tee-off before playing alternate shots after selecting the best drive.
Earlier in the week Ballesteros cited the three Irishmen as being substantial threats to the Europeans:
"All three Irish players will be keen to show off their match play skills on home soil ahead of the Ryder Cup and that makes them very dangerous opponents," said Ballesteros.
"Padraig gave a great performance at Augusta to finish in the top five and Paul was very impressive in completing his debut at the Masters in level par," he said.
"Darren will be disappointed with his one-over-par total at Augusta, but his earlier showing in Texas (second in the Houston Open) proves how well he's playing at the moment.
The first two days comprise, two sets of four fourball matches, one in the morning the other in the afternoon before 10 singles ties will decide the outcome on Sunday.
The winning team will receive £1 million in prize money (£100,000 per player) while each member of the losing side is guaranteed £50,000 each.
Morning Greensomes Draw:
Britain and Ireland v Continental Europe
07:30
Paul Lawrie (Sco) and Colin Montgomerie (Sco) v Robert Karlsson (Swe) and Thomas Bjorn (Den)
07:45
Ian Woosnam (Wal) and Steve Webster (Eng) v Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
08:00
Padraig Harrington (Irl) and Paul McGinley (Ire) v Mathias Gronberg (Swe) and Alex Cejka (Ger)
08:15
Lee Westwood (Eng) and Darren Clarke (Irl) v Raphael Jacquelin (Fra) and Thomas Levet (Fra)