Tiger Woods and Jim Furyk to face Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in the opening of the 36th Ryder Cup

For two years America’s top golfers have heard about how they were throttled by Europe’s best. Coming off an 18 ½ - 9 ½ loss the American’s are looking to right a ship that hasn’t won the Ryder Cup since a miraculous comeback in 1999.

U.S. captain Tom Lehman will be responsible for leading the charge and he has the world’s top three players on his side, Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk. As past Ryder Cup events have shown, world rankings mean little when the Cup is at stake.

Tiger and Mickelson where paired together two years ago in the opening round and were dispatched by Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington. Tiger is looking for redemption; he has lost seven consecutive opening day matches at the Ryder Cup.

European captain Ian Woosnam seems set on keeping the Cup on European soil for another two years. He has assembled what many call the greatest European Ryder Cup team ever.

Day one will pit Woods and Furyk against Montgomerie and Harrington. That match up will be followed by Stewart Cink and J.J. Henry (US) vs. Paul Casey and Robert Karlsson for Europe. David Toms and Brett Wetterich of the US will face off against Sergio Garcia and Jose Maria Olazabal of Europe. Phil Mickelson and Chris DiMarco will be the final US team on Friday in their match play against Darren Clarke and Lee Westwood.

The three day event that boasts golf’s greatest will be held in Straffan, Ireland at the K Club beginning Friday. This will be the first time Ireland has hosted the Ryder Cup. First tee is set for 3:00 am EST.