Monty gives nothing away as Ryder Cup stars practise

If Colin Montgomerie is planning any surprises in his line-ups for the opening matches in the 38th Ryder Cup, he kept them under wraps today when the practice rounds began at a wet and mist-shrouded Celtic Manor.

Europe's captain sent his team out in the pairings that might be expected to seek an early lead against the United States in the fourballs and foursomes on Friday.

The Italian Molinari brothers, Edoardo and Francesco, went with Graeme McDowell and Rory McIlroy, the Northern Irish duo they beat into second place at last year's World Cup.

Luke Donald and London's Ross Fisher, one of six Ryder Cup rookies in the team, were in the same group as Swede Peter Hanson and Spain's Miguel Angel Jimenez.

Padraig Harrington went with Ian Poulter, who last night tweeted that contrary to whatever Montgomerie had intimated, there was no bar on the European players using their Twitter accounts.

Poulter messaged: "Colin hasn't banned twitter. He has asked to be respectful to the team's privacy."

German Martin Kaymer, who won the US PGA Championship last month, partnered world No3 Lee Westwood.

For the Americans, Tiger Woods reprised his winning partnership with Steve Stricker. The troubled world No1 took four points from four matches with Stricker in last year's President's Cup.