Bill Elliott: likely Ryder Cup pairings

Golf Monthly editor-at-large Bill Elliott on some of the likely pairings for the 39th Ryder Cup at Chicago's Medinah Country Club

Sometimes life gets weird. So, wandering out for some fresh air and another look at this wonderful course I saw a bloke hitting a golf ball. Only it wasn't one of the Ryder Cup chaps, it was Michael Phelps. How wet can it be out here, I thought. Then I noticed two other chaps and they turned out to be Bill Murray and Justin Timberlake. How much beer did I have last night!   But no, I wasn't hallucinating, it was something called the Captain's Celebrity Challenge, a bit of fun to entertain the 40,000 fans who crushed into Medinah. With the real golfers out practising and due to finish not long after lunchtime the organisers had to come up with something to fill the afternoon gap and justify the big ticket prices.   Meanwhile, the first big 'oops' of this Ryder Cup has just happened. Early doors, Graeme McDowell told us that it didn't take a genius or even a slightly smart bloke to figure out the opening pairings for Europe. Come on, he said, we all know surely that it's him and Rory, Lee Westwood and Luke Donald, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter and Paul Lawrie and Sergio Garcia. Well, I don't know about you but I didn't see that last pairing on the radar.   A couple of hours later Jose-Maria Olazabal was asked if he could confirm Graeme's pairings? Ollie looked startled and then a little peeved. No, no, no, he wasn't going to confirm anything or even talk about pairings which at this stage in the phoney war are usually very secretive indeed.   Oh dear, I fear a chastisement coming on for the Northern Irishman.

Editor At Large

Bill has been part of the Golf Monthly woodwork for many years. A very respected Golf Journalist he has attended over 40 Open Championships. Bill  was the Observer's golf correspondent. He spent 26 years as a sports writer for Express Newspapers and is a former Magazine Sportswriter of the Year. After 40 years on 'Fleet Street' starting with the Daily Express and finishing on The Observer and Guardian in 2010. Now semi-retired but still Editor at Large of Golf Monthly Magazine and regular broadcaster for BBC and Sky. Author of several golf-related books and a former chairman of the Association of Golf Writers. Experienced after dinner speaker.