Golf: Ryder Cup - How the Ryder Cup works and morning pairings

Teams: 12 players each from Europe and America.

Holders: Europe, who won 141/2-131/2 at Oak Hill in 1995.

Format: Four morning fourballs and four afternoon foursomes today and tomorrow; 12 singles on Sunday.

Points: 28 - one per match, 1/2 point each for tied match. Europe need 14pts to retain the Cup.

Matchplay: No cumulative scores; holes won, lost or halved. Match status described as one up, two down, etc; match results recorded as 3&2 (three up with only two holes left to play), or one hole, etc.

Foursomes: Partners take alternate shots until the hole is completed. One tees off at the odd number holes, the other on the evens.

Fourballs: Players play their own ball, the lower score of each pairing counting as the team score.

Singles: One against one.

Dormie: A team is `dormie' if they lead by the number of holes left to play and so cannot be beaten. No matches go to play-off.

Envelope: On Saturday night, the captains nominate a player, possibly one who is injured, to go in the `envelope'. Should an opposing player be unfit to play, the player in the envelope is removed from the draw. The `missing' match is deemed a half.

Four-ball pairings for this morning's matches:

Jose Maria Olazabal (Sp) & Costantino Rocca (It) v Davis Love & Phil Mickelson.

Nick Faldo & Lee Westwood (GB) v Fred Couples & Brad Faxon.

Jesper Parnevik & Per-Ulrik Johansson (Swe) v Tom Lehman & Jim Furyk.

Colin Montgomerie (GB) & Bernhard Langer (Ger) v Tiger Woods & Mark O'Meara.