GOLF: Although 10 out of 12 of the United States Ryder Cup team will be competing in next week's $5 million American Express World Championship at Mount Juliet, the two remaining players won't be sitting at home twiddling their thumbs. Instead, Stewart Cink and Hal Sutton - who missed out on the trip to Kilkenny after falling out of the world's top 50 - have decided to play in a regular event on the US Tour.

"I'm glad they're playing (in Tampa), to stay competitive. The rest of the guys will be playing in Ireland, which is great preparation for the Ryder Cup, and Stewart and Hal really felt they should play a tournament too," said US Ryder Cup captain Curtis Strange, speaking in an international teleconference last night, adding: "I'm glad they're not going to be sitting at home."

However, Strange, in his role as a television analyst for ABC at next week's world championship event, will get to see 10 of his players, including world number one Tiger Woods, at first hand.

Although he claimed it was ideal to play in Ireland the week ahead of the Ryder Cup, which would help his men overcome jet-lag earlier than would usually be the case, Strange insisted that it would be "just another evaluation week, a week to see what is going on".

He explained: "Every week, after the players qualified, has been different. Some of their games have gone back and forth and I see this as another evaluation week, another 72 holes of strokeplay and another time to see them and see how they are playing."

However, he claimed that he had already made up his mind about the pairings he will play in the first day's foursomes and fourballs in two weeks' time.

"But I'm not going to tell you," he joked.

"I've the pairings for the first day pretty much done, although I reserve the right, as captain, to change them. And the pairings on Saturday will be dictated by what everyone does on the first day. I won't panic and overload the guys by switching them just because they lose a match . . . it will be judged on how they play, how they gel. But every one of them will play in at least one match before the singles on the Sunday.

"Anyone who qualifies deserves to participate. I'm not going to say that everyone will play an equal number of matches but they deserve the right to play at least one match before the singles."

With just two of the American team not playing in Mount Juliet, in contrast, five of the Europeans - Jesper Parnevik, Paul McGinley, Pierre Fulke, Phillip Price and Lee Westwood - will be absent, which would seem to indicate a rather lob-sided weight to the respective teams in the run-up to The Belfry.

Strange, though, refused to read anything into the apparent loss of form of so many of European players.

"The Ryder Cup is one of these deals, and we have seen it so often in the past, where in matchplay anything can happen. It is such a different animal to matchplay. In 18 holes of matchplay, your emotions are running high and the adrenalin is flowing and you have a partner to rely on. Anyone who thinks these matches are not going to be competitive is going to be wrong."

He added: "On paper, I don't think the US being favourites will make any difference. It's all about who is most excited, the most motivated in what is a long, long week."

He also believed that it was important that Colin Montgomerie, who has been troubled by a back injury for much of the season and especially over the past week, should be there for Europe.

"He's like Nick Faldo, or Seve, Sandy and Woosie. They're all leaders. He's been around so long and won seven Order of Merits and just by being on the team Monty will give a lot of confidence, even if he is not at full strength."

However, Strange stressed that he did not believe the atmosphere that pervaded at Brookline three years ago will be repeated this time round.

"Myself and Sam Torrance have been attempting to set a positive atmosphere, a positive image to these matches," he insisted. "But once the peg goes in the ground, I expect to see a hard fought competitive match.

"Anything less wouldn't be fair to the public or to the players. Anyone going out there to play is going to play to win. And, at this stage, I am just anxious to get it going."

The countdown will tell him there is 14 days to go, and the matter of a world championship in Ireland to occupy the minds of the majority of his team.

Curtis Strange, captain of the US Ryder Cup team, will have a chance to evaluate 10 of his players' form in the World Championship at Mount Juliet next week.