Faldo and Azinger muscling it out

RYDER CUP
Live on Sky Sports
September 19-21
Click here for listings

Also see

• TV schedule
• Team profiles
• History
• Valhalla interactive
• Betting

Another busy day in Louisville, the clear-up begins after Hurricane Ike hit town, the Europeans fly in and the two captain's step up their mind games.

Home from home

I got a sneak look around the European's team hotel in downtown Louisville, a plush place - a bit over the top luxury if anything. The backroom staff have put together a great relaxation room for the players though with leather sofa's (with Ryder Cup embroidered cushions!), pictures of all the players from this year adorn the walls, there's a cigar humidifier (for Señor Jimenez), and a Wii games console, although I'm told they won't be playing the new Tiger Woods game on it!

There's also a jukebox, it would be interesting to see which songs are most played at the end of the week.

Talking music, there's a drum kit in the dining room next door - Iron Maiden's Nicko McBrain has been teaching Faldo how to do it and the players will apparently be giving it a go too. Not sure if that's the most soothing thing to listen to at dinner though!

Every detail's been taken care of in the hotel, there's even cookies around the team rooms iced with either the European flag or the Ryder Cup... let's hope our boys also have the taste of success by the end of the week.

The team bedrooms are pretty nice, they have a whole floor to themselves, security is everywhere. Bomb squad officers patrolling all the time with their dogs, one of which we heard barking quite loud at one point, my cameraman Ollie just looked at me and said "is that a good bark or a bad bark?"

Room mates

The bedrooms are allocated in a special way too, the best players room goes to the player with the most Ryder Cup appearances, and so on down the list and in the case of a tie or for the rookies then it goes on ranking in the World Points list or European points list.

That way they save any petty squabbles on who has the best rooms! If they stayed in our hotel that wouldn't be a problem - every room is identical. Oh, and as always the captain gets the ultimate room with a large suite so he can hold meetings with players in there!

They've been working really hard on the Valhalla course since Hurricane Ike passed through Kentucky causing chaos - the boys with leaf blowers had a very heavy duty day cleaning up the debris off the course. The damage appears to have been worse downtown though.

Felled trees blocking roads and half the city are still without any power. This also affected the Kentucky Exposition Center next to the airport where the two captains held a joint press conference on Monday. No power there, it looked like it may just be a chat in the parking lot. Sky Sports News came to the rescue though for the PGA, our satellite truck providing them with a power outlet with which to run the lights and PA system.

No love lost

The press conference ran late, Paul Azinger turned up on time, Nick Faldo kept him waiting for 25 minutes before proceedings could begin though by arriving late into the room (sorry, it was actually in the building lobby!).

There has been plenty of talk about these two guys and their "frosty" relationship, well they acknowledged each other, but no hand shakes and outside by the plane Faldo again ensured there was a clear distance between him and his counterpart as Azinger greeted the Europeans on their arrival.

I thought this press conference would be packed (if it had been an NFL one then there would have been dozens of TV crews there) but there was only around half a dozen in total, a scattering of journalists - perhaps an indication that Ryder Cup fever is still at a higher level in the UK and Europe than it is here, for now at least.

WAB's

Apart from the team we also got our first look at the WAG's, or as they are set to be tagged here at the Ryder Cup, the WAB's (Wives and Birdies).

Our girls looked pretty relaxed, clearly excited at the week ahead - don't under-estimate how important their role is in cheering on our team as Europe try to break the record books and retain the Ryder Cup for a fourth successive time.

Finally, some days nothing goes your way. We were filming a shot of me on the banks of the Ohio River earlier, we found a great location - superb view of the skyline of Louisville across the water, just as we start filming and I begin to talk, a municipal truck parks right behind us to shred tree debris from the storm.

Roll on tomorrow, the first day of team practice at Valhalla - a first chance to see the players in action.