Ryder Cup: Friday pairings announced

• Pairings for the Friday morning foursomes revealed
• Gleneagles’ star pairing Stenson/Rose are back together
• Jordan Spieth and Patrick Reed also to team up again

The match-ups for the first foursomes session of the Ryder Cup have been announced – and there’s a great familiarity about the pairings.

Olympic champion Justin Rose and Open champion Henrik Stenson – who claimed three points from a possible three at Gleneagles – have been paired together again, while Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth – who claimed two wins and a half two years ago – will also link up.

In this match, Davis Love III has opted to switch around the order of the foursomes and fourballs from what they were at Gleneagles – with Europe so incredibly strong in foursomes.

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Since 1995, Europe has a cumulative 47-33 lead over the US in the format, winning 12 of the 19 sessions. The US has won just three, with four sessions halved.

Explaining his choices, Darren Clarke told Sky Sports: “Henrik and JR are fantastic and get on so well together, Rory is bouncing like I’ve never seen him before and he made it obvious that he’d like to play with Sulli. Sergio and Martin, again, are good friends and wanted to play with each other and the last one we chose Thomas and Lee.

Danny Willett had been hotly tipped to play alongside ISM stablemate Westwood in the opening session and, when asked by Sky Sports’ Tim Barter as to the reason behind his absence, Clarke neither confirmed or denied whether him being left out was to do with the fallout from his brother’s article, which has caused widespread media attention.

“Danny can fit in anywhere,” he said. “When you go thinking about it, to have guys playing five times is tough. You need guys fresh and he may play the next four matches.”

Friday morning foursomes:

7.35am: Jordan Spieth/Patrick Reed v Henrik Stenson/Justin Rose
7.50am: Phil Mickelson/Rickie Fowler v Rory McIlroy/Andy Sullivan
8.05am: Jimmy Walker/Zach Johnson v Sergio Garcia/Martin Kaymer
8.25am: Dustin Johnson/Matt Kuchar v Lee Westwood/Thomas Pieters

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Ryder Cup pairings :: What do you make of them?

What do you make of tomorrow morning’s pairings? Can you see Europe taking an early lead? Leave your thoughts in the ‘Comments’ section below.