The pressure is on Europe's Ryder Cup captain, Thomas Bjorn, as he prepares to name his opening fourballs for Friday morning and he simply cannot make the same mistakes that his predecessor, Darren Clarke, made two years ago.
Clarke's preparations for Hazeltine in 2016 were thrown into disarray when an ill-judged satirical article from Danny Willett's brother caused a media storm in the USA. Willett had been pencilled in to partner Lee Westwood on the first day but the fallout from the article led to him being left out, with Europe going on to lose that opening morning 4-0 before succumbing to a 17-11 defeat to the Americans.
The Ryder Cup Odds make the USA favourites at Le Golf National in France this week as they bid to win on European soil for the first time in a quarter-of-a-century and it is imperative that the Europeans make a faster start this time around.
Bjorn announces his opening fourballs at the opening ceremony, which gets underway at 4pm on Thursday, and we've picked our partnerships for the fourballs below...
Henrik Stenson and Justin Rose
The duo are good friends and have a fine Ryder Cup record together, winning four of six matches as a pairing, although they did struggle when winning just one of three together in 2016. Was that just a blip or could the sun be setting on this particular partnership?
Much will depend on the fitness of Stenson, who has endured a tricky season with an elbow injury, and how fresh Rose, the recently crowned FedEx Cup champion, feels. Rose also has a good record with Ian Poulter, winning four of five matches together, including three of four foursomes and their one fourballs in cahoots. Expect the English pair to partner up for the foursomes.
Francesco Molinari and Tommy Fleetwood
Two of the most wonderful ball strikers on the European team and undoubtedly two of the form men in world golf this year. Molinari, the Open Championship winner, has appeared at two Ryder Cup previously but has a poor record, with his win-loss-halved return currently standing at 0-4-2.
Fleetwood would appear to have the perfect temperament for Ryder Cup golf and actually won three matches at the EurAsia Cup earlier this year.
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm
There has been much talk of Jon Rahm pairing up with his Spanish compatriot Sergio Garcia, although we fancy McIlroy will be the 'veteran' who he partners after they appeared in the same practice groups on both Tuesday and Wednesday.
In 2016, rookie Thomas Pieters played well alongside McIlroy and Rahm could enjoy a similar debut, although McIlroy does still have something to prove in this arena as his 9-6-4 record is below par for someone of his ability.
Ian Poulter and Tyrrell Hatton
This is likely to be chaos. Two of the more fiery characters on the European team. It could represent a gamble for Bjorn to put two such extrovert characters together and yet it could be an inspired move as they may yet prove to be the talismanic pair to get the French crowd pumping.
