2006 Ryder Cup Day 1 Prediction

The pairings for Friday’s morning matches are set for the 2006 Ryder Cup and, as expected, it’s going to be critical for the U.S. superstars to play well if the Americans have any hope of getting off to a good start.

Here’s the lineup for Friday morning’s four-ball matches, a best-ball game where each team takes the lowest of its two scores on each hole:

MATCH 1: Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk (U.S) vs. Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie (Europe).

MATCH 4: Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco, (U.S.) vs. Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood, Europe.

Wereally don’t like the U.S. matchups in the second and third matches, and I’d think Europe is the heavy favorite in both of those matches. Cink and Toms are veterans, but neither is playing off-the-charts great coming into this event. Casey just won the HSBC Match Play last week and is on a roll, and Garcia, who will pair well with Olazabal, was 4-0-1 in the 2004 Ryder Cup and loves this format.

That’s why it’s critical for Woods and Furyk to play well and get a point right out of the box. Harrington and Montgomerie will be formidable, but Woods and Furyk are 1-2 in the world for a reason. With all the rain that’s been pouring down, the key to this match will be if Woods can get his speed down on the greens.

The final match will be interesting and probably worth staying away from in a betting standpoint because of all the unknowns. Frankly, DiMarco might be the better player coming in. Clarke hasn’t played much this year as he tended to his wife, Heather, who died of cancer last month.

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