On the eve of the much anticipated Ryder Cup between America & Europe, a photo has been taken of Nick Faldo holding a piece of paper with a list of pairings.

Dismissing the importance of the list, European Team Captain Nick Faldo said at a press conference yesterday that it was a parings list at all, just a lunch list of who wanted tuna, ham or beef sandwiches.  A brilliant, and for that I love the man!

Quite obviously the list is the European pairings, and as such we will see Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia be first out, followed Padraig Harrington and Robert Karlsson.

The next line shows the initials of Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Graeme McDowell and Paul Casey, then on the next line Oliver Wilson, Soren Hansen and Miguel Angel Jimenez. Henrik Stenson’s name was missing.

My guess is that Faldo has grouped Rose, Poulter, Casey and McDowell and has yet to decide the final pairings.  Similarly, a choice is to be made between Wilson, Hansen, Jimenez and Stenson.

On further questioning Faldo almost conceded to it being an important list by saying:

“I haven’t put numbers next to them yet, have I? We don’t know what order they will go out, so some are safe.”

As European Team Captain Nick Faldo has continued to rub some people up the wrong way, as he did as a player.  But I like Faldo’s attitude, and so will many others across Europe when the European Team come home with the Ryder Cup once again.