Ryder Cup practice begins as captains offer early clues to pairings
Last Updated: 25/09/18 3:36pm
United States captain Jim Furyk chose to separate his three Ryder Cup rookies as he sent his team out in three fourballs for practice on Tuesday morning.
The Americans teed off on the first hole from around 9am local time at Le Golf National in Paris, with veteran duo Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson leading the first group.
Rookie Bryson DeChambeau, who has been tipped to play alongside Woods - fresh from his Tour Championship victory on Sunday - this week, and Masters champion Patrick Reed completed the group.
Close friends Justin Spieth and Justin Thomas were in the second group alongside Rickie Fowler and Dustin Johnson.
Rookie Thomas, one of the few Americans with recent experience of the course after finishing in a tie for eighth at the Open de France this year, could be paired with Spieth this week but he also had a successful partnership with Fowler at the Presidents Cup.
The final grouping, teeing off around 9.30am, contained the third newcomer to the team in Tony Finau, along with Brooks Koepka, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson as Furyk assesses his options for later in the week.
Furyk later revealed he had made decisions on a number of his pairings and some of the practice groups contained his match-ups - although he would not divulge which ones.
"They are very aware of who they are playing with this week," he said. "You can look at it from a personality standpoint, a technical or data standpoint but that changes on different courses.
"This course is different to Hazeltine [in 2016] so you may want to change the type of players you play with each other."
Team Europe's three fourballs headed for the 10th tee from 10am with Justin Rose and Henrik Stenson, regular partners in the past, in the first group alongside the experienced Sergio Garcia and rookie Alex Noren.
European captain Thomas Bjorn also opted to split up his rookies with two debutants - Jon Rahm and Thorbjorn Olesen - in the second group alongside experienced duo Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey.
The final fourball, which started around 10.40am, consisted of Ian Poulter and Francesco Molinari and rookies Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton.
The final quartet all spoke to the media on Tuesday morning before teeing off for practice.
Bjorn said not too much should be read into the practice groups ahead of the start of play on Friday.
"Today is just about getting everyone out there," he said. "It doesn't necessarily mean they will be paired together.
"I don't feel like I've given anything away in what is going on on the golf course today.
"They are all out there and getting their bearings and getting to know what the golf course is like this week. Today is a very relaxed day."
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