Tuesday's practice round at Medinah may have given the first insight into Europe's opening Ryder Cup pairings.
McIlroy: Paired with McDowell
Captain Jose-Maria Olazabal grouped Luke Donald and Ian Poulter alongside Lee Westwood and Justin Rose in group one.
Northern Irish pair Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell played alongside Paul Lawrie and Sergio Garcia in the second.
"You can pretty much predict our first eight players on Friday morning," said McDowell in his news conference.
"I'm looking forward to seeing how the next three days pan out in practice, but I can tell you that the first four guys are Poulter, Rose, Westwood and Donald, and myself and Rory are in the second group with Lawrie and
Garcia. So there's your eight, the first two groups, fairly predictable."
Europe's third group to go out on Tuesday morning featured Martin Kaymer with Francesco Molinari and Nicolas Colsaerts with Peter Hanson.
The first action on Friday's opening day will be the four foursome matches, followed by four fourballs.
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