Harrington looks to have special role

GOLF:WHO'D HAVE thought Nick Faldo, old Mr Me, would be regarded as a clucking mother hen? Yet, on the surface at least, it seems as if the self-obsessed six-time major winner has become the modern version of the leopard who has changed his spots

And it's all perfectly timed for the 37th edition of the Ryder Cup, which starts here at Valhalla Country Club on Friday.

Yesterday's first day of practice gave an indication of how Europe, chasing an unprecedented fourth successive win in the match with the US, seem to have bonded under Faldo's unique style of captaincy.

Before the 8am shoot for the official team photograph, Faldo called his men over to the first tee, intent on saying just a few words. He also wanted them to get an image of the opening tee-shot, to visualise it and to take it with them to the range.

Then, his actions prompted a display of leadership from the more experienced team players as Sergio Garcia, Lee Westwood and Pádraig Harrington took it in turns to give an early-in-the-week motivational talk.

"It was my idea (to go to the tee), just to get a touch of familiarity," said Faldo. "Friday morning is different, a very different emotion. But this was a good moment. It was great that Sergio joined in; Lee Westwood joined in, Pádraig as well . . . everybody shared a few little thoughts.

"It went a lot further than I expected, the guys took it more than two steps further. It was really productive, the team were really tight together. I love being a mother hen to this lot, they're a special bunch."

If that unexpected display of solidarity and impromptu team meeting sent out a strong message, there was a sense that things were back to normal when Faldo sent out his team in groups of three - rather than in fourballs, as is customary - for their first session of familiarisation with the course.

Garcia, Westwood and Soren Hansen went out first, followed by Paul Casey, Robert Karlsson and Ian Poulter. Harrington, Henrik Stenson and Graeme McDowell made up the third group away, while Justin Rose, Oliver Wilson and Miguel Angel Jimenez were at the tail.

For anyone attempting to figure out potential parings for the foursomes and the fourballs, Faldo's decision to send his men out in threeballs made such conjecture pretty meaningless. Did it matter that Garcia and Westwood had formed impressive partnerships in 2002 and again in 2004 when they won 4½ points from six? Did it add fuel to the fire that Harrington would partner McDowell in fourballs?

Faldo's take on his decision was that it speeded up practice play and allowed players to focus more on the task at hand.

"Today was day one of practice, just to get out there and get themselves acclimatised. I've always found when you're doing a lot of chipping or putting around the green that four is a crowd, there's always balls going everywhere. We decided (on three) collectively, to get a look at the course and feel of things."

Interestingly, Faldo spent a significant amount of time with Harrington. The Dubliner sat in the captain's cart in between playing shots over the opening few holes as they bounced ideas off one another. It would seem Harrington has become Faldo's sounding board.

The Americans stuck to the more traditional format in practice of sending out the team in fourballs. Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim, Justin Leonard and Phil Mickelson were in the first group, with JB Holmes, Kenny Perry, Jim Furyk and Boo Weekley in the second. Stewart Cink, Chad Campbell, Steve Stricker and Ben Curtis completed the home team's practice groupings.

What could be taken from Azinger's pairings?

"You can read what you want, (but) you don't just throw them out willy-nilly. I'm not drawing names out of a hat," he said.

Azinger did concede that his plans to turn Valhalla into a long hitter's course hadn't fully materialised.

"I wanted to exploit our power, but it turns out we don't have a team with great power. I thought we would have seven bombers and five guys that weren't bombers, and that's not the case. I don't think right now that I've been able to grab course advantage. I didn't find anything I could do to gain a big edge."

Time will tell if he needed that edge.