Luke's coy on Ryder Cup pairs

EUROPEAN Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald insisted his pairings were not “set in stone” as he fine tuned preparations for Bethpage with all 11 present members of the team in action at the BMW PGA Championship.

- By JIM VAN WIJK

Rory Mcllroy, fresh from his victory at the Irish Open, will play the first two days at Wentworth alongside European teammates Shane Lowry and Jon Rahm.

Tommy Fleetwood and Justin Rose will also be grouped together, along with defending champion Billy Horschel, while captain's picks Ludvig Aberg and Matt Fitzpatrick go out with Hideki Matsuyama.

However, Donald - himself playing with Alex Noren and Matteo Manassero - remained coy over whether much could be taken from the groupings at this weekend’s flagship DP Tour event.

“will you get an idea of my pairings? Well, you can read into it however you want,” Donald told a press conference at Wentworth yesterday.

“There will be lots of different groups, different pairings playing together. Again, these things are never always set in stone.