European Ryder Cup captain Colin Montgomerie has allayed any fears over the fitness of Lee Westwood and Peter Hanson ahead of Friday's opening matches.
Westwood has been dogged with persistent problems in an ankle and calf, while Hanson pulled out of last weekend’s Vivendi Cup with a chest infection.
Montgomerie revealed this morning that he has been in touch with both golfers and that they have reassured him that they will be ready for action come Friday.
“I spoke to Peter yesterday when he landed in Britain from Sweden and he’s okay and raring to go,” said Montgomerie.
“I’ve been following Lee’s progress very much over the last month and I’m so glad he’s been playing 36 holes in a day over the weekend so he can cope with that. So there’s no worries there,” he added.
Meanwhile, both teams have banned posts on micro-blogging site Twitter in a bid to maintain focus on the competition.
“We talked about it, the team has come to a consensus not to do that (use Twitter),” US captain Corey Pavin told reporters after arriving at Cardiff airport this morning.
“It can be a little bit distracting sometimes. I think it’s important to focus on the Ryder Cup and playing in matches and just enjoying camaraderie with the team itself.
We’ve decided as a whole to not Tweet this week. But first thing a week from today I'm sure tweeting will be all over the place."
Montgomerie said: “We are in the same boat. Not being a tweeter myself, we feel that tweeting and Facebook and all these social sites can get oneself into trouble.
“I think that we focus on the job in hand this week but as Corey so rightly says, on October 4th you will find the team on social network sites.”
Don’t miss the Irish Times on Tuesday for our 32-page Ryder Cup preview booklet. Philip Reid and George Kimball discuss the possible pairings, with Johnny Watterson taking a look at the wags. Martyn Turner gives you his illustrated guide, while Mary Hannigan has her unique take on the world’s biggest golf event.