NOTEBOOK
STAFFAN, Ireland – The pairings for Friday’s foursomes won’t be announced until tomorrow, but there are a couple of teams that will come as no surprise.
Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk are a lock to play together and Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco are another pair that is sure to go out together.
Those two groups are based on comfort level and success at the last President’s Cup.
“There are no secrets; I think we all know those guys will play together,” U.S. captain Tom Lehman said.
“We get along well,” Jim Furyk said of he and Woods.
“I enjoy his company. I enjoy his sense of humor. Our mentalities are a lot the same.” Woods, who in the past has called the tough-minded Furyk “a stud,” has lobbied to play with him again, which of course will happen.
DiMarco said he and Mickelson “just have fun” playing together.
“We go out and it’s like we relax each other,” he said. “We might be joking with each other, talking about something (other than golf).” Other than the above-mentioned groups, yesterday’s pairings went like this: For the U.S., Scott Verplank and Brett Wetterich played together as did David Toms and Chad Campbell, Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry and Vaughn Taylor and Zach Johnson.
For the Europeans, Colin Montgomerie played with David Howell, Robert Karlsson with Henrik Stenson, Padraig Harrington with Paul McGinley, Paul Casey with Luke Donald, Jose Maria Olazabal with Sergio Garcia and Darren Clarke with Lee Westwood.
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This has gone somewhat under the radar but hasn’t missed the reach of Woods’ tentacles, according to a source very close to the world’s No. 1 player: Sergio Garciawas quoted at an event in Switzerland recently saying that he yearns to play against Woods in the Ryder Cup singles to have a piece of him.
The legendary competitive Woods, who eats up any extra motivation, according to the source close to him, is craving that match-up comes to fruition Sunday.
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Outspoken NBC golf analyst Johnny Miller is at it again, stirring the pot, and he’s making a lot of high-profile enemies.
While at an event press conference in Boise on Monday he ripped the U.S. Ryder Cup team, saying, “This is probably on paper the worst Ryder Cup team we’ve ever fielded.” Miller, who’ll be here this week broadcasting the matches for NBC, also expressed reservations about the job Lehman is doing as captain.
“I never agree with anything Johnny writes or says,” Chris DiMarco said yesterday when asked about Miller’s comments.
