THE PREAMBLE finally over, it's time for the real thing. And, for Europe, this 37th edition of the Ryder Cup at Valhalla - on a course named from Norse mythology, where the souls of Vikings feasted with the gods - is one laden with greater expectations than at any time in the great event's history.
Never before has a visiting team to the United States carried such a tag of hot favouritism, never before has an American team been labelled as such underdogs.
For sure, Europe deserve to be favourites. In their midst, they have the hottest player - in majors - on the planet in Pádraig Harrington, the winner of the British Open and US PGA championships inside the past two months.
And, probably more pertinently, given this is a team contest rather than the week-to-week individual examinations, they have developed a winning habit: each of the past three Ryder Cups has ended with a European hand claiming custody of the famed old trophy.
Yet, this time round, it is hard to see Europe repeating the record-sized wins of Oakland Hills in 2004 and The K Club in 2006 when they triumphed 18½ to 9½ points over two different USA teams that felt the same emotion of being overwhelmed.
This time, you've got to figure that the match - especially with a boisterous home crowd - will be much, much closer and most likely will only be decided come the tail-end of the singles on Sunday.
Today's opening session of foursomes (which will be followed in the afternoon by fourballs) starts the intrigue; and Nick Faldo, a man who knows the demands of the Ryder Cup better than anyone and who also knows the value of having a major champion in his midst, has chosen to pitch Harrington and Sweden's Robert Karlsson into the cauldron first, facing the much-vaunted pairing of Phil Mickelson and Anthony Kim.
"We'll have to bring our A-Game," remarked Harrington, who - with Karlsson becoming the sixth different player he will have partnered in the Ryder Cup - knows the importance of quietening the crowds.
"They've gone for their best team, their best two players, and we have to go out there and beat them . . . momentum is always nice to have on your side," he added.
As it turned out, the pairings that Faldo inadvertently revealed on a piece of paper during Wednesday's practice proved to be the ones he revealed as his starting partnerships for the foursomes.
If there was a surprise, it had more to do with the running order, with Sergio Garcia and Lee Westwood chosen to bring up the rear - against Kenny Perry and Jim Furyk - rather than leading the charge. "It's pretty tough to beat a three-time major champion out of a seat," opined Faldo.
Although there had been speculation that Perry and JB Holmes - the two Kentuckians - would lead out the USA, Azinger has gone with the more logical pairing of Kim and Mickelson.
"They expressed an interest in being paired together as soon as Anthony Kim locked up his spot. Mickelson called me personally and said he'd love to play with him but so did about six other guys. I said, 'way to go out on a limb, Phil, you want Anthony Kim. Really?' So I granted him his wish for this first go-around."
In the recent past, the USA has struggled with the first session. In fact, the Americans haven't won an opening session since 1991 and, in an effort to change that statistic, Azinger - who intends to play all 12 of his players today - has dispensed with the tradition of starting out with fourballs.
Faldo, meanwhile, remained uncommitted about whether or not he would use all 12 players over the foursomes and fourballs. "We have to have our (fourballs) teams in before players finish (the foursomes).
So, no, I'm not (confirming all 12 will get to play). My team knows my plan, we're calling it a loose Plan A. You've got to go with the flow, (trust) your gut reaction on how things go."
Not surprisingly, though, Faldo has chosen to renew the Westwood-Garcia partnership which proved so fruitful in 2002 and 2004. Their bottom order foursomes with Perry, in his home state, and Furyk could evoke the nosiest crowd reaction.
The biggest call by Faldo was the decision to pitch Justin Rose and Ian Poulter straight into the fray (against Stewart Cink and Chad Campbell).
With enormous pressure to deliver this week, Poulter remarked: "I can't wait. I have to say I'm really buzzing. I missed out the last time (in 2004) on the Friday morning and I really want to be a big factor this time round. This has totally made up for the last three or four weeks which have been tough. But I am big enough and ugly enough to keep all of that at bay. There's no doubt I'll be giving it 100 per cent to bring in a point for the team."
If Poulter is under pressure, so too is Faldo.
He is seeking to follow in the footsteps of Sam Torrance, Bernhard Langer and Ian Woosnam as winning Ryder Cup captains. He's also seeking to lead Europe to a historic fourth straight win.
Yesterday, a far cry from the man of steel who won six majors, Faldo showed his emotions when his eyes welled up after meeting Muhammad Ali.
Hopefully, for Faldo, it doesn't all end in tears.