Thursday's opening ceremonies at Medinah. — Getty Images

MEDINAH, Illinois — United States captain Davis Love III didn't waste any time throwing three Ryder Cup rookies into the deep end on Friday morning. In a move that came as a bit of a surprise, Love put one rookie (Brandt Snedeker, Keegan Bradley and Jason Dufner) in each of the first three groups for Friday morning's foursomes competition. As expected, he also paired Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker together, sending them off last as the morning anchor.

Jose Maria Olazabal went a more conventional route with his selections, pairing fellow countrymen Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell together in the first group, as well as successful Ryder Cuppers Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia. The Lee Westwood-Francesco Molinari pairing looks a little odd, but given Molinari's lack of experience and success in the biennial competition, it makes sense to send him off with a grizzled veteran like Westwood. The English duo of Justin Rose and Ian Poulter will anchor Europe's morning foursomes against Woods and Stricker.

Here's a rundown of Friday's morning foursomes:

Match 1: Jim Furyk and Brandt Snedeker vs. Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell (8:20 a.m. ET) — Snedeker talked early in the week about how well he was playing and the fact that he was dying to get the Ryder Cup underway. Well, he certainly got his wish. Snedeker and Furyk, both captain's pick, will be tasked with securing a point against one of Europe's most intriguing pairings in Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell. The duo from Northern Ireland went 1-1-1 in 2010.

Who has the edge: It has to be McIlroy and McDowell. Snedeker is putting out of his mind at the moment, but you can't overlook McIlroy's recent run. Plus, the European pairing has been here before. We still don't know how Snedeker will respond to the pressure of his first Ryder Cup math.

Match 2: Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley vs. Luke Donald and Sergio Garcia (8:35 a.m. ET) — On paper, this could be the match to watch in the morning. Mickelson and Bradley wanted to be paired together, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that Love is testing out the new pairing early on to see if it has a future. However, he may want to temper his expectations against one of Europe's most formidable duos in Donald and Garica. They have a combined 4-0 record as a team and have gone 6-0 (Donald) and 8-0-1 (Garcia) in foursomes in their Ryder Cup career.

Who has the edge: It has to be Garcia and Donald. You can't overlook those team stats -- especially when going up against a U.S. team that's never played together in the Ryder Cup. Past experience likely gives Europe another point in the second match.

The Ryder Cup is almost here! — AFP

If you're anything like us, you've likely been counting down the seconds hours until the first tee shot is struck on Friday morning at Medinah. For a majority of golf fans, the next three days will likely be spent on the couch watching the Ryder Cup, which is without a doubt the most emotionally charged golf event on the calendar.

All of Chicago will likely be there to root on the U-S-A! But if you can't make it, don't fret; the coverage is so extensive that you likely won't have to worry about missing a single shot. Here's a handy guide so you know what you have to look forward to over the next three days.

Friday, Sept. 28 [Morning foursomes (alternate shot); afternoon fourball (best ball)]

ESPN: 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. ET

Ryder Cup Live (RyderCup.com): 8:20 a.m. to end of play

Saturday, Sept. 29 [Morning foursomes (alternate shot); afternoon fourball (best ball)]

NBC: 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. ET

Ryder Cup Live (RyderCup.com): 8:20 a.m. to end of play

Sunday, Sept. 30 (Singles)

NBC: 12 p.m. to 6

Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker / Getty Images

Ryder Cup rules state that if a player from either team incurs an injury prior to the alternate shot matches on Friday morning, the captain is allowed to pick a replacement to fill the open spot. Over the years, only Steve Pate has suffered an injury at the biennial competition, after the limo he was riding in to the 1991 Ryder Cup gala dinner got into a three-car accident that injured his ribs and forced him to miss Sunday singles and play only one match.

[Can Rory keep up with Tiger's career arc?]

The streak without an injury at the Ryder Cup is up to 21 years, but on Wednesday afternoon, Steve Stricker nearly became the latest casualty when the cart he was riding in got a little out of control on a steep slope near Medinah's 17th green.

According to GolfDigest.com's Dave Shedloski, Stricker, sensing there was something wrong, jumped out of the cart, driven by U.S. assistant captain Scott Verplank, as it slid sideways down the wet slope.

"I felt it going, and I decided to abandon

U.S. Ryder Cup squad / Getty Images

After spending the last two years talking about Ryder Cup standings, captain's picks and pairings, we're now just days away from kicking off the biennial matches at famed Medinah Country Club. Finally. With that in mind, there's only one thing left to do, and that's break down both teams. Today, we take a look at the U-S-A! U-S-A!

Tiger Woods (Ryder Cup record: 13 win-14 loss-2 halves)
Woods has played in every single Ryder Cup session since his debut in 1997. He currently holds a 4-1-1 singles record but has never fared well in the team format going 9-13-1. The good news is he's 6-3-0 in the last two Ryder Cups and will once again be called on to anchor the U.S. squad. Woods has three wins this season but struggled to stay in contention on the weekend at a number of events.

Phil Mickelson (Ryder Cup record: 11-17-6)
The 2012 Ryder Cup will be Mickelson's ninth appearance. Ninth! Like Woods, his success during the regular season has never translated to the team format where he's 7-13-6 since 1995. Usually a lock to play all three days, it'll be interesting to see how Davis Love III uses Mickelson this week. He struggled for much of the summer and complained numerous times about being fatigued. Will he be able to play morning and afternoon matches, plus singles on Sunday? That remains to be seen.

Steve Stricker (Ryder Cup record: 3-3-1)
Stricker makes his third Ryder Cup appearance and owns a 3-3-1 record. While most of Davis Love's pairings remain a mystery, there's a good chance Stricker will be paired with Tiger Woods on Thursday and, if all goes well, for the entire competition. The pair went 2-1-0 at Celtic Manor. While he's not long off the tee, his accuracy and solid putting make him a perfect partner. You could literally put Stricker with anyone and they'd have a good chance of winning.

[Related: Can Rory keep up with Tiger's career arc?]

Brandt Snedeker (Ryder Cup rookie)
Tiger Woods is always the most talked-about player on the U.S. side, but if you're looking for a 1A, it has to be Snedeker, who's coming off the biggest win of his career at the Tour Championship and is putting lights-out at the moment. If his nerves hold up under pressure, he stands a good chance to play all three days. Rookies are usually eased into the competition, however, benching the hottest putter in golf even for one session seems crazy at this point. Aside from the win at the Tour Championship, Snedeker also won earlier in the year at Torrey Pines.

Tiger Woods / Getty Images

Tiger Woods has dominated the game of golf on every level over his career, winning countless titles as an amateur -- he won three consecutive U.S. Junior Amateur and U.S. Amateur championships -- and 14 majors as a professional. But for whatever reason, he's never been able to translate his individual success to the Ryder Cup.

Woods, who's 13-14-2 in six appearances, has been incredibly mediocre in the biennial competition, helping the U.S. win just one Ryder Cup during that time. On Tuesday, Woods accepted responsibility for United States' poor record in recent years.

"Well, certainly I am responsible for [the lack of success against Europe] because I didn't earn the points that I was put out there for," Woods said. "I believe I was out there, what, in five sessions each time and I didn't go 5-0 on our side.

"So I certainly am a part of that and that's part of being a team. I needed to go get my points for my team and I didn't do that.

"Hopefully I can do that this week, and

Europe's Ryder Cup bags have an emblem on them honoring the late Seve Ballesteros. — Getty Images

On Tuesday at the Ryder Cup, European Ryder Cup captain Jose Maria Olazabal unveiled his team's golf bags for the biennial competition -- a tournament tradition that usually doesn't warrant much fanfar. After all, we're talking about a golf bag with the word "Europe" plastered on the side, and the Ryder Cup logo on the front. Pretty basic stuff.

But this year's Ryder Cup unveiling was special for one particular reason: Europe's bag has a silhouette of the late Seve Ballesteros, who passed away last year, on the front, doing his iconic fist pump after he holed the winning putt at the 1984 British Open.

"He has meant a lot to me and to the team, and I wanted to have something that was present for each and every player," Olazabal said on Tuesday. "We come up with the idea that it would be nice to have Seve's silhouette, and so every time somebody gets to grab a club or something from the bag, they can see the silhouette. I thought it was important for us to have Seve's memory and

Wildomar Cornerstone Christian (Calif.) High QB Ryan "Dax" McGregor. — Cornerstone ChristianWildomar Cornerstone Christian (Calif.) High quarterback Ryan "Dax" McGregor is currently listed in critical but stable condition after suffering a head injury during a game against Avalon (Calif.) High on Friday night.

According to The Press-Enterprise and Lake Elsinore-Wildomar's Patch site, McGregor was airlifted to UCLA Harbor Trauma Center where he received emergency brain surgery and was then placed on a ventilator to help his breathing.

The good news is that as of Monday, per The Press-Enterprise, McGregor's "breathing and oxygen levels had improved, and he had shown some hand movement and response to his girlfriend and family." One can only hope that's a sign that the senior quarterback will make a full recovery in the near future.

McGregor, who spent the past three years playing football at Elsinore (Calif.) High before transferring to Cornerstone Christian, was starting his fifth game under center for the school when the injury occurred. Despite the traumatic event, the school still plans to play its upcoming game against Corona Crossroads Christian (Calif.) High.

Considering the severity of the injury, you'd expect coaches to be able to pinpoint when McGregor suffered the head injury, but according to Cornerstone Christian coach Bill Jarvis, it's still unclear.

"We still don't know. We just know [he] came off the field and said he had a problem," Jarvis told The Press-Enterprise. "The process is still going on -- we don't know if it was a fluke thing or not.

"We know it was probably one of three plays. We're still going to examine the films closely to see if we can tell anything else."

Kyle Stanley is one of the PGA Tour's rising stars -- a twentysomething with a ton of talent who can hit the ball a country mile. There's no question the 24-year-old, who won the Waste Management Phoenix Open earlier this year, has some serious game on the course.

But did you know he has game off it as well? Check out this video of Stanley hanging with Gonzaga's basketball team and performing some sweet trick shots on the basketball court. Stanley, who enters the video at the 3:30 mark, heaves the ball from the stands and watches as it goes in on the bounce.

Not bad at all. I'm not sure it's as impressive as a 50-foot double-breaker, but if Stanley ever gets tired of playing golf on the PGA Tour, at least he knows he can make some money as a basketball trick shot artist.

(h/t Golf Digest's Local Knowledge blog)