As a double delight in this most Irish of US cities, Darren Clarke and Padraig Harrington will both be in action for holders Europe in the opening foursomes of the 33rd Ryder Cup at The Country Club this morning. It will be the first appearance by two Irish players on the opening morning since 1973, when Christy O'Connor Snr had his swansong at Muirfield in the company of Eddie Polland.

Harrington's selection as a partner for Miguel-Angel Jimenez carries an inevitable tinge of sadness given that it has comes at the expense of Jose-Maria Olazabal. But skipper Mark James was left with little option given the destructively wayward driving of the reigning Masters champion during practice this week.

The Dubliner, who had come here in a rich vein of form, has grabbed his chance emphatically. In partnership with Jimenez for the latter stage of yesterday's final practice session, Harrington looked admirably controlled under the scrutiny of James and his assistants Ken Brown and Sam Torrance.

It transpired later that, to all intents and purposes, the decision had been made by Olazabal. James agreed the previous evening that if the Spaniard didn't feel 100 per cent he would opt out of the foursomes. Olazabal effectively did so by switching partners yesterday morning.

There were no misgivings among the European management team about the idea of putting two rookies together. "Padraig and Miguel have played a lot of golf, they know what they're doing," said assistant captain Torrance. "They have no reason to be fearful as newcomers. They have placed themselves under pressure to win big tournaments. That's what it's all about."

Harrington's selection as a partner for Miguel-Angel Jimenez carries an inevitable tinge of sadness given that it has comes at the expense of Jose-Maria Olazabal. But skipper Mark James was left with little option.

The entire exercise exemplified the quiet pragmatism of James, who has become something of a quirky celebrity among American scribes this week for his acid wit and droll, dead-pan delivery. "I deliberately put Ollie in the same match with Padraig, so that he (Ollie) could see he was being replaced by someone playing extremely well," he said.

"With two seconds in successive tournaments, Padraig played his way into the team and he has done equally well in practice. But Ollie will be available for the afternoon's fourballs if required."

By way of emphasising the latter point, James insisted that the Spaniard could play "72 holes in a day", if required.

Meanwhile, Clarke's partnership with his friend Lee Westwood was entirely predictable. "I'm probably the only one who could keep him calm," said the Englishman, with a smile. "Darren's a strange bloke - he goes from very high to very low, quickly. But I know we can work very effectively together."

"Darren's head is just fine," said James. "Lee is certainly a good partner for him. They look very comfortable together on the course, which means more to me than their friendship off it."

A thrilling prospect is the battle at number two in the order where Sergio Garcia and Jesper Parnevik will take on Tom Lehman and Tiger Woods. Having tried Woods and world number two David Duval as a partnership earlier in the week, US skipper Ben Crenshaw eventually decided to split them.

Garcia and Woods will now be in opposing pairings little more than a month after fighting out a wonderful duel for the USPGA Championship at Medinah, where the American captured his second major title. "Jesper and me are good friends who have a lot of fun, so we make a good team," said Garcia. "There'll probably be more people watching our game than any other, so it is important that we concentrate and remain focused."

He then added with the supreme confidence of youth: "We believe in ourselves and we believe we can beat them." By comparison, Woods's reaction was decidedly low-key. "I know the media want us to go head to head, but we'll only be hitting half the shots in this one," he said. "We have to rely directly on our partners."

Among other things, the pairings pointed up the shrewd planning of Crenshaw, who resisted the temptation to try and intimidate the holders by placing the world's number one and number two at the top of his order.

In every meeting since 1993 at The Belfry, Europe have gone into lunch on the opening day level with the Americans. That happened to be situation at the end of foursomes play in 1993 and 1995, and it remained so after European skipper Seve Ballesteros had the format switched to four-balls at Valderrama two years ago.

Crenshaw is acutely aware of this fact. He is also aware that the US have a cumulative edge of 70 1/2 points to 69 1/2 against the Europeans over the last five meetings. And that the reason for recent losses has been their performances in the foursomes and four-balls.

"I have driven myself nuts trying to work this out," said the US skipper. "Eventually I came down on the side of pairings that for various reasons I am convinced will work. For instance, there is the solid, inspirational nature of Tom Lehman to complement Tiger, who is playing wonderfully well right now.

"And I thought that number one in the order might be a good spot for David (Duval) and Phil (Mickelson), who have played a lot together. Davis (Love) and Payne (Stewart) have well-rounded games, while Jeff Maggert and Hal Sutton are our straightest drivers of the ball."

But he expressed surprise at the absence of Olazabal. Without alluding to the Spaniard's notoriously suspect driving, Crenshaw simply said: "As far as iron play and around the greens is concerned, there's nobody better." Point taken.

Europeans could have been similarly surprised at the inclusion of Love, who was doubtful until last weekend because of a pinched nerve in his back. "Davis feels fine and can go 36 holes a day if necessary," insisted Crenshaw.

Meanwhile, Harrington confessed to mounting excitement on the eve of the battle. "The atmosphere in the players' room has been fantastic and it's a matter of transferring that out onto the course," he said. "Naturally I'm delighted to be in action from the start and I'm ready to trust the way I'm playing right now."

Finally, Westwood articulated the views of everybody who had been involved in what has become one of the longest build-up periods in the history of a major golfing event. "It's great to get started," he said. Amen to that.