Sutton gambles on Woods and Mickelson

By tonight, what if this supposed dream team had been humbled by Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in the fourballs and then defeated again in the afternoon foursomes? Wouldn't the mental scarring for the hosts be calamitous?

Sutton acknowledged he'd probably be slaughtered if the gamble backfired but, actually, he deserves credit for a plan that could end up providing not only his team but also future US Ryder Cup squads with an inspirational heart. For years, Europe have built their success around grand duos such as Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal, Nick Faldo and Ian Woosnam and Montgomerie and Faldo. Today, the successful Lee Westwood-Sergio Garcia partnership gets another airing for the Europeans.

Yet there have been no obvious US equivalents of these dream duos. Which is why Sutton insists he, too, wants to introduce European-style "continuity" to his strategy.

He is frustrated that Woods, an unquestionable Ryder Cup flop up so far, has not been settled with a regular playing partner.

Mickelson will be his ninth in three contests and the new skipper evidently fancies that if he gives this duo a chance, they might prove to be the best US combo since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson, then the sport's two biggest stars, won all their matches together in 1977 and 1979.

Nicklaus and Watson got on well, though. What makes the Woods-Mickelson axis so compelling, of course, is their supposed coolness with one another.

It was only last year that the Tiger was left growling when Mickelson made clumsy comments about how Woods "hated" not being able to drive the ball as far as him because he used "inferior equipment".

Now, though, they do sound as if they really want to join forces. According to Sutton, who is getting more barmy and emotional by the minute here, the pair "boiled with sincerity in their eyes" as they thanked him for bringing them together.

Perhaps golf fans owe him thanks because Sutton is giving the contest what everyone wanted.

It happens maybe only once in a generation that you get two US sporting icons teaming up like this.

In the Cup's infancy, Walter Hagen and Gene Sarazen played together, and it's 31 years ago almost to the day when another US captain, Jackie Burke, gave the crowd at Muirfield a similar treat on the opening morning.

On that occasion, he gave Nicklaus and a certain Arnold Palmer licence to go out and obliterate their opponents 6 and 5, striking the first key blow towards an eventual US win.

Burke, now the 81-year-old sage at Sutton's side here, has doubtless been reminding him about what can be achieved with the most daring pairing.

For golf 's sake, let's hope it lasts longer than just one day.