A Daring Pairing From Sutton

Think Koufax and Drysdale, Magic and Kareem, Maris and Mantle, Montana and Rice.

And, for the first time, think Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

It’s all about star power and in golf, the combination of Woods and Mickelson is a heavy dose, which is just what the U.S. team is throwing at the Europeans in the first four-ball match today that begins the 35th Ryder Cup at Oakland Hills.

Hal Sutton, the U.S. captain, had trouble containing his enthusiasm Thursday when he mused about the Woods-Mickelson pairing, which will lead off against a heavyweight European tandem of Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington.

Sutton said he knew the moment he was named captain, in October 2002, that he would put Woods and Mickelson together for the first time. He just kept it secret, although he let his mind wander Thursday afternoon.

“They might shoot 58, man, if they make it that far,” said Sutton, hinting that the match wouldn’t last the entire 18 holes.

He wouldn’t hear of any talk of risk, what a Woods-Mickelson defeat in the first match of the Ryder Cup might mean.

“This might be one of the greatest teams in U.S. history,” Sutton said. “There is risk in life. You might cross the street and you might get run over.”

In the morning matches, Sutton clearly wants to think that the U.S. is going to be doing the running over.

Davis Love III and Chad Campbell play Darren Clarke and Miguel Angel Jimenez, followed by Chris Riley-Stewart Cink against Paul McGinley-Luke Donald and then David Toms-Jim Furyk against Sergio Garcia-Lee Westwood.

Neither Sutton nor European captain Bernhard Langer would reveal his pairings for the four alternate-shot matches in the afternoon, but Sutton indicated the Woods-Mickelson tandem probably would stay together. At Sutton’s suggestion, Mickelson did not practice with the U.S. team Thursday morning, and instead took two sleeves of Woods’ golf balls to the North Course at Oakland Hills to get used to hitting them.

Sutton told Woods and Mickelson they would be playing together in separate conversations Wednesday night.

“I told these two guys that I felt like the perception of the world was that the U.S. team didn’t bond and we didn’t come together as a team,” Sutton said. “I said, ‘I can’t think of any other message that we could send any louder than to put the two of you guys out first.’ ”

Woods has played with eight partners in 12 matches and his record in the four-ball format is 2-4. Mickelson is 4-3-1 in the same format.

The Woods-Mickelson alliance is a first, but there is a long history of superpower pairings on the U.S. team, beginning with Gene Sarazen-Walter Hagen in 1933 and ’35 and continuing with Sam Snead-Lloyd Mangrum in 1947, ‘49, ’51 and ‘53, Arnold Palmer-Jack Nicklaus in 1971 and ’73 and Nicklaus-Tom Watson in 1977 and ’81.

Sutton says he expects Woods-Mickelson to be just as formidable and sees no downside to the pairing.

“The way I look at is, I can’t imagine anything that would aggravate those two guys more than to get beat, so, man, there would be some hell to pay if that happens,” he said.

Langer said his thinking was much the same as Sutton’s -- to put out his best players first to try for a quick start. But even from his side of the field, Langer had to express admiration for at least the potential of a Woods-Mickelson fireworks show.

“You’ve got two great players who make a lot of birdies usually,” he said. “It’s a wonderful pairing. I don’t see anything wrong with Hal’s thinking. I expected something like that. It’s four balls, you need guys out there who make birdies, you don’t need the guys who make 18 pars in a row because they are not going to win the match.”

Langer chose the safe route in his morning pairings, playing only one of the five rookies on his team, the 26-year-old Donald, who has won twice on the European Tour this year. The other four rookies -- Ian Poulter, Thomas Levet, Paul Casey and David Howell -- won’t play before this afternoon.

Campbell and Riley are two of Sutton’s five rookies, but both have impressed Sutton in practice this week. Rookies Fred Funk, Chris DiMarco and Kenny Perry and captain’s pick Jay Haas will play in the afternoon’s alternate-shot format, Sutton said again Thursday, but he would not reveal their partners.

Whatever headline-grabbing attention Woods-Mickelson will draw, the fact remains that Europe has won three of the last four Ryder Cup competitions and kept the cup six of the last nine meetings, dating to 1985. That was a 16 1/2 -11 1/2 romp for Europe, the first time the U.S. had lost since 1957, and the singles match where Langer defeated Sutton, 5 and 4, in a contest between two players who would become opposing Ryder Cup captains 19 years later.

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The Format

The Ryder Cup is a match-play event between 12-man teams from the United States and Europe. Today and Saturday, there will be four matches involving two-man teams from each side in the morning and four more in the afternoon. Sunday, there will be 12 singles matches. Each match is worth one point; a match that is tied is worth half a point to each team. There is a total of 28 points. The team with the most points at the end of play Sunday wins the Cup. Because Europe won the Cup in 2002, if the teams tie, it will retain the Cup.

How those matches work:

TODAY AND FRIDAY: FOUR-BALLS

(OR BETTER BALL)

* Each golfer plays his own ball; the team whose golfer has the lowest score on the hole wins the hole.

TODAY AND FRIDAY: FOURSOMES

(OR ALTERNATE SHOT)

* Two golfers from each team play one ball against two golfers from the other side. Players alternate shots every hole, with one player hitting the tee shots on the odd-numbered holes and his teammate hitting the tee shots on the even-numbered holes. The twosome with the better score wins the hole.

SUNDAY: SINGLES

* Twelve matches, one golfer from the U.S. going against one from Europe. The player with the lower score on a hole wins the hole.

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The Matchups

Pairings for this morning’s four-ball matches.

Phil Mickelson-Tiger Woods vs.

Colin Montgomerie-Padraig Harrington

* The records: Mickelson 4-3-1, Woods 2-4, Montgomerie 5-4-2, Harrington 1-1.

* The skinny: Both teams are trying for a quick start and it was Hal Sutton’s choice not only to pair his two top players for the first time, but to begin the Ryder Cup with the four-ball format, in which the U.S. hasn’t done well.

Davis Love III-Chad Campbell vs.

Darren Clarke-Miguel Angel Jimenez

* The records: Love 2-5-2, Campbell *no record, Clarke 3-2-1, Jimenez 1-0-1.

* The skinny: Campbell is a star in the making, according to Sutton, who has paired him with the most experienced player on the U.S. side. Jimenez may be the hottest player on either side with four victories this year, including the BMW International three weeks ago.

Chris Riley-Stewart Cink vs.

Paul McGinley-Luke Donald

* The records: Riley no record, Cink 0-0, McGinley 0-0-1, Donald no record.

* The skinny: It’s back-to-back rookies for the U.S. side while Donald matches Riley in lack of experience. McGinley has impressed European captain Bernhard Langer with his gritty style and Cink has four top-10 finishes in his last five events, including a victory at the NEC Invitational that impressed Sutton.

David Toms-Jim Furyk vs.

Sergio Garcia-Lee Westwood

* The records: Toms 1-1-0, Furyk 0-3-1, Garcia 2-1-1, Westwood 3-3-0.

* The skinny: This one is all about personalities, matching and contrasting. Toms and Furyk are unflappable and steady, whereas Garcia is excitable and Westwood silent.

*No record indicates rookie. The records are for four-ball matches only.

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The Series

* U.S. leads: 24-8-2.

* Last time: With the 2002 Ryder Cup tied going into Sunday’s singles matches for the first time since 1991, Europe won the first three matches to grab momentum and seized control when Phillip Price, ranked No. 119, beat Phil Mickelson. Europe clinched the cup when Paul McGinley holed an eight-foot par putt to halve his match with Jim Furyk. Europe went on to win, 15 1/2 -12 1/2 , the largest margin by either team since 1985.

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Ryder Cup

TEAM USA

* Captain: Hal Sutton. Players: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III, Jim Furyk, Kenny Perry, David Toms, Chad Campbell, Chris DiMarco, Chris Riley, Fred Funk, Jay Haas, Stewart Cink

TEAM EUROPE

* Captain: Bernhard Langer. Players: Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Lee Westwood, Thomas Levet, Paul Casey, David Howell, Paul McGinley, Ian Poulter, Colin Montgomerie, Luke Donald

TELEVISION

* Today -- 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., USA

* Saturday -- 5 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ch. 4

* Sunday -- 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Ch. 4