In the fevered scratching around for any kind of advantage in the Ryder Cup, the opening ceremony these days has become a key battleground.

“Ooh, look, the Europeans have better knots in their ties,” comes the cry from one eager observer. “And Luke Donald can speak a bit of Italian too,” shrieks another. “We’re two up already,” hoots someone else.

Even the Italian Air Force got in on the act with a flypast before birling back round as US captain Zach Johnson took to the lectern and drowning him out with another roaring whizz by.

All of this, of course, is the fluff around the edges. Sartorial elegance, eloquent, erudite oratory or acts of magnificent men in their flying machines, mean absolutely hee-haw when tees get shoved into the ground, address positions are adopted and golf balls get clattered off into the air. It’s game on now.

This morning’s opening foursomes should throw up some interesting games too. The pairings, meanwhile, threw up some interesting questions when they were announced last night.

While Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre was left out of the opening exchanges – he was set to appear for the fourballs – and European rookies, Sepp Straka and Ludvig Aberg, were thrust to the frontline, one of the big talking points was the absence from the morning session of the US duo of Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth, who had forged a profitable Ryder Cup alliance in previous years.

According to the intense number crunchers, however, the Spieth and Thomas partnership shouldn’t be a match made in heaven. One reporter proceeded to use data from a sporting intelligence company called the 21st Group – it’s all high-tech these days - which suggested that Spieth and Thomas were, in fact, not an ideal partnership. His bamboozling question to Johnson just about had the poor American skipper choking on his own brain cells as he tried to fathom it all out.

See what you make of it? “Just on the idea of navigating the analytical models,” came the question. “When you come to a situation where the 21st Group put out some of their data that said Spieth and Thomas wouldn't rank in the top 100 most optimal partnerships, in terms of navigating the objective and subjective, would that be a non-negotiable for you, or how much of a factor would that be?”

Did you follow that? No? You’re not the only one. “I'm sorry, can you slow that one down?,” gasped an utterly bamboozled and frazzled-looking Johnson. His own explanation for leaving Spieth and Thomas out was slightly easier to grasp.

“The gist of it is we have only 12 guys and unfortunately I can’t play all 12 each session so at some point someone has to sit,” added Johnson, who also sat out two of this year’s major winners, Brooks Koepka and Wyndham Clark.

“It’s a golf course which demands a lot out of you physically, I think it’s an ideal situation where you don’t necessarily play everyone all five sessions.”

Johnson’s counterpart, Donald, stated that the pairings he unveiled had been the ones that had been in his mind over a week ago.  

Jon Rahm and Tyrrell Hatton will lead the European assault against world No 1, Scottie Scheffler and Sam Burns, in the opening tie while the axis of Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood, who will be in the anchor match against Xander Schauffelle and Patrick Cantlay, was another obvious pairing.

“I think Jon feeds off a playing partner with similar kind of fire and passion,” said Donald of a double act that could be as fiery as Prometheus at a curry night. “He wants to feel like he’s out there with a team-mate that’s really engaged with him. Tyrrell really fits that bill.”

Aberg, the exciting young rookie, was paired up with Viktor Hovland for a showdown with Max Homa and Open champion Brian Harman while Austrian debutant Straka would get his first taste of action in the company of Shane Lowry against Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa.

“I would say they’re very fearless,” said Donald of his troops.“The atmosphere in the team room is fantastic. Everyone is in good spirits. They’re motivated. There’s a lot of good energy. Everyone feels like they’re playing well.

“I just want to get to that first tee and watch my guys get started. As a captain it’s a little bit more of a stressful job, but I’m excited. I’m excited for the guys.”

Carpe diem and all that.