It is inevitable that people are interested in who Nick will put out for the first day's foursomes and fourball matches. Outsiders will no doubt look at the pairings in practice and try to put two and two together. But the most important thing is first to show that you are in form and playing well. As Nick said, he doesn't put people out there willy-nilly.

On Tuesday, I played with Miguel Angel Jimenez and Ollie Wilson and if I were guessing, I'd say there was a decent foursomes pairing in there. For want of a better word, Miguel Angel is a legend. He's great to be around, has everything in perspective and will be a really calming influence on the golf course - whoever he is picked to play with.

I played amateur golf with Ollie as well, so we know each other pretty well. And then there's Ian Poulter. We're great friends and have played a lot of team golf together - Tavistock Cups, Seve Trophy, World Cup. Now, I know they don't quite stack up to the Ryder Cup, but it means that we have become familiar with one another's games. In the fourballs, I'd also be happy playing alongside Sergio Garcia or Paul Casey. They're both fantastic ball strikers and very aggressive players, which is just what you want in match play. I think we'd fit together well.

I'm really pleased with my form at present. I'm hitting the ball nicely and have come back to the States feeling really good about my game after my performance in the Johnnie Walker Championship at Gleneagles, where I sealed my place in the team. I would say that was a breakthrough week for me in terms of how I played, how I felt and how I thought. I got the confidence going and felt it was a nice time to play well coming into this event.

The days in the build up to the match are certainly long. If you look at the nuts and bolts of it, all we did on Tuesday was have a quick warm-up and then played 18 holes. It took seven hours to get around which is a long time. We were trying to get to know the course and its quirks and trying to work out the greens. I wouldn't say we were over-worked, but it was a long day on the feet, especially as we signed so many autographs walking between the greens and the tees. But we have come to expect it. The European team tries to give a lot to the crowd here. That's the nature of our team and I think we're quite good at that because we want to get people on our side as much as possible out there.

There has been some feedback from the crowds, most of it positive. Mind you, we have experienced the first taste of comments out there. When I hit a bad shot, they shouted out 'Save that for Friday'. But you just have to laugh it off with them. It's just banter. They're out there trying to have a good time and it's said in jest.

I think the thing that has struck me most about the course is that there are a lot of holes that if you carry the corner at 300 yards they've given you a very wide first cut of rough. Obviously they are looking at J.B. Holmes, their longest hitter, to cut the corners of the doglegs. Paul Azinger, their captain, has set up the golf course for the long hitters, but in a lot of ways it suits the Europeans. I'd say that through the whole side, the European team is slightly longer than the American team.

The spirit in the team room is good, but because there are so many functions in the first few days we don't get the chance to hang out much. Because of that I can't wait for the matches to start. Then we'll get the evenings to ourselves and will be able to bond and have a good time.

Sergio, as you might expect, has been leading everything. He's so passionate about the Ryder Cup and loves everything around it. Poults has also been heavily involved in the banter and everyone is feeling comfortable in there. But we all have our own personalities and it's important to stick to that. At the moment, nobody needs to put an arm around anybody. You can leave that until you see who you are paired with - and then you can start to be there for one another. Until that stage, you don't want this thing to get too big, too soon. We'll just roll with the practice days, keep a perspective and see how things shape up. Bring it on!