Want to hear the pairings for tomorrow morning’s rounds?

The Cup begins with four alternate-shot matches.

Starting off at 9 AM (Eastern), Paula Creamer and Beth Daniel will face Carin Koch and Catriona Matthew. This was originally supposed to be Creamer and Inkster, but apparently Inkster has an infected fingernail, which apparently she caught from Vijay Singh. No, I made that up. But seriously, her fingernail may actually prevent her from playing at all this weekend. You heard it here first.

Regardless, Creamer’s on a roll, and Daniel will keep her steady. Koch’s good, but head to head in the four majors this year, Paula cleaned her clock, 4 and 0. Advantage: USA.

Next up, at 9:10, will be Natalie Gulbis and Cristie Kerr (eh, what did I tell you?) facing Laura Davies and Maria Hjorth. Big-hitter Davies makes a formidable opponent, she’s only one spot behind Annika in points. But Hjorth hasn’t had a win since 1999, and Gulbis, the weak link on the US side, has still come out ahead of even powerhouse Davies in this year’s majors. Advantage: USA.

Christina Kim and Pat Hurst will then take on Sophie Gustafson and Trish Johnson. This one’s a tougher call. Our better player, Hurst, has only a slight advantage over their better player, Gustafson, in terms of this year’s performance. But Hurst is hot off a win at last weekend’s State Farm Classic, and Kim is showing no signs of nerves so far, swinging free. Assuming Hurst doesn’t go OB, as she has a tendency to do at clutch moments, this one’s advantage: USA.

Americans Laura Diaz, almost six months pregnant, and Michele Redman will play in the final match against Annika Sorenstam and Suzann Pettersen. No analysis needed here, advantage: Europe.

That last pairing was a Christmas present wrapped in a bow. These are blind draws, so we might’ve ended up with Annika playing our numbers 1 and 2. Instead, she’s paired with our 9 and 10. We were gonna lose that one anyway, know what I mean?

Keep your sets tuned to The Golf Channel tomorrow to see how it all plays out.

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