Padraig HarringtonA key component in Europe's recent Ryder Cup victories is the formation of successful partnerships that have provided them with the nap hand going into the Sunday singles. It's a marriage of mindsets, an on-course respect and empathy that has proved lucrative in points garnered.

At Oakland Hills, analysis of America's failure can be traced to the first two days, the team sundered as blind dates proved incompatible. Forget about the fact that the USA captain Hal Sutton stumbled on one or two that passed muster: even blind squirrels occasionally find acorns.

Tom Lehman is unlikely to ape his predecessor's meltdown on the evidence of his tenure to date. So the pressure is on European counterpart Ian Woosnam to choose wisely. The temptation must be huge to doff a cap to successful pairings from the last staging in Detroit but it's hardly that simple. It's about juggling resources, acknowledging form as much as aptitude. The balls will be well and truly in the air come tomorrow morning.

The suggestion that there is an over-analysis on the composition of the foursomes and fourballs is something that Padraig Harrington rails against: "Under-analysing has been a fault in the past and I think everyone has seen that. It's now known that you have to get your foursomes and fourballs right.

"It's a huge part of the captain's role to choose the right pairings because, as has been shown in the past, you can put the best players in the world together and they are not necessarily going to win.

"You have to get your partnerships right and that sometimes means weakening a partnership to get two others right. Singles are still 12 points and obviously we are only playing for 16 in the first two days, but getting partnerships right is going to get you the maximum points you can to give you the best lead going into the singles."

A brief reference to the unhappy alliance of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, whom Harrington and Colin Montgomerie beat at Oakland Hills, was fleshed out as the Irishman recalled the duel.

"Myself and Monty chose to play that match because we felt we'd play our own game, a steady one and not try and compete with their game. We weren't going out there to try and match them, just focusing on playing our own game and let them do whatever."

It worked a treat and Woosnam's likely to turn to that partnership on more than one occasion over the next few days. Harrington can't wait: "I don't think that anyone in the team would not relish the chance to play with Monty in a Ryder Cup. He is one of the best players in the world and excels in the Ryder Cup format. You can't wish for a better partner really. My job in playing with him is (that) he is going to be the captain and I'm there to try and support him.

"It's important to let Colin be the captain (in the partnership). That's a position he likes and he plays it very well. If I was in another group, maybe I would be the captain but Colin's definitely the one leading the ship."

In expanding on the partnership theme further the Irishman was asked to compile his identikit for golfing harmony between disparate talents. He suggested that there's no ideal solution, pointing out that some would hanker after two long hitters going after everything but that two shorter hitters, playing steadily can wreak as much havoc. "If you're asking me (to nominate) I'd probably put one big, flamboyant hitter with a shorter, straighter hitter, a steadier player. This (The K Club) is a big hitters' course, so I think that each fourball pairing would be better carrying one of those type of players.

"The problem is that you can come up against two steady, straight hitters who'll have a couple of putts from 15 feet and that can put a lot of pressure on one opponent trying to hole from six."

The upshot is that there can be no fail-safe approach to selection and that there is merit to most options. That's where Woosnam will have to earn his crust.