Darren Clarke mixes rookies with experience for Ryder Cup practice
By Keith Jackson at Hazeltine
Last Updated: 28/09/16 9:06pm
Darren Clarke has revealed that he is already "almost 100 per cent" certain of his pairings for the opening day of the Ryder Cup.
The European captain again made sure his six rookies went out with his established stars on day two, with two debutants in each of the three groups and Rory McIlroy playing alongside Chris Wood for the second day running.
They were joined by Martin Kaymer and Thomas Pieters, who was accompanied by the German when he birdied the final three holes to snatch a thrilling victory at the Made In Denmark which nailed down a wildcard berth from Clarke.
Open champion Henrik Stenson and Matt Fitzpatrick went out with veteran Lee Westwood and Rafa Cabrera-Bello, with Masters champion Danny Willett, Olympic champion Justin Rose, Sergio Garcia and Andy Sullivan playing in the final fourball.
Clarke admitted he may have some tough decisions to make, but he intends to "follow through" with the plans he had in place before the team's arrival at Hazeltine National.
As he reflected on what he had seen during the two practice sessions, Clarke said: "Has there been anything to change my mind? Everybody's playing pretty well, so there's some tough decisions to be made. But I have my plans and I'm going to follow through.
"I probably guess this morning may have thrown a little curveball in there with not knowing what was going on, but I wanted the guys to go out there and have a little bit of fun.
"It's such a pressure-filled week for all the guys so this morning I decided that I would put the veterans out against the rookies and let the rookies step up and take the veterans on.
"They've got a lot of pressure coming their way and this morning was going out and letting them play nine holes and trying to take the cash off the older guys."
Clarke also declared he had "full belief" in the six rookies on his side, and he believes they will feature in many more Ryder Cup contests in the future.
"As you can see from both sides in the past, you've had times when you see somewhat of a changing of the guard, and I think they are probably going to be the future of the Ryder Cup going forward. I feel very fortunate that they are here on this team.
"I have full belief in all those rookies. They are very, very talented players and I'm sure they will do their utmost to respect Europe the best that they can this week."
But Clarke did not reveal if he had plans to play all 12 of his players on the first day, adding: "I've spoken to a lot of previous captains on this. They have all came in with plans, but each and every one of them have told me that those plans need to be fluid.
"So if that's the case, I have an idea in my head of what it will be Friday morning, Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon. But that has to be fluid in terms of how the match is going.
"So I will, along with the help and guidance of my vice captains, try and put out the strongest eight players in those Friday morning, Friday afternoon, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, as I see fit for the position the team is in.
US captain Davis Love, meanwhile, made only one alteration to the three groups he had sent out on Tuesday, with debutant Brooks Koepka moved into the group of Rickie Fowler, Jimmy Walker and Phil Mickelson.
Zach Johnson joined JB Holmes, Ryan Moore and Brandt Snedeker, while the grouping of Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth played together for the second straight day.