Click here for today's singles matches

The two captains whose pre-match sparring included a game of poker for the Golf Channel have showed their hand for the final time in what has been a Ryder Cup of endless intrigue. After another tense day at Valhalla, from which the US emerged with a two-point lead, Nick Faldo and Paul Azinger last night submitted the order in which their 12 players will contest today’s decisive singles.

It had been an exhausting thrill of a day in the 37th match between these sides, but when the dust had settled and the two captains had drawn breath, they had just about enough energy left to scribble down a list of names and seal it in an envelope. The upshot is a final day that promises to be every bit as competitive as the previous two.

In the heat of Kentucky this afternoon, Sergio Garcia will take on Anthony Kim in a tasty opening tie, Justin Rose will play Phil Mickelson, and perhaps most interestingly of all, it will be Faldo against Azinger. Neither of the two leaders will swing a club, but their reputations could rest on the opportunity they have afforded their respective teams.

How the 2008 Ryder Cup was won

Follow the final day's play from Valhalla as the 37th Ryder Cup draws to a dramatic conclusion with today's singles matches

• Mission accomplished for United States

• Justin Rose's Ryder Cup diary: I'm heartbroken

• Analysis: misfiring big three cost Europe dear in Ryder Cup

Europe surrender under brilliant assault

The US reclaimed the Ryder Cup for first time since 1999 with a sustained performance in the singles matches at Valhalla

• Elementary approach pays off for J.B. Holmes

• Nick Faldo's bold approach backfires in failure to reclaim initiative from US

• Ryder Cup warning signs to watch out for

Multimedia

• The key moments, match by match

• Is Faldo to blame for Europe's defeat?

Related Links

• Patriot games turn ugly

• Rookie Oliver Wilson is strongest link

• Nick Faldo must be fearless

From the selection of Ian Poulter as a wild card to the exclusion yesterday morning of Garcia and Lee Westwood, Faldo has lived up to his reputation for single-mindedness, so far at no serious cost to his team. But there is still ground to be made up, with a 7-5 singles win needed to retain the trophy, and a 71/2-41/2 margin required for outright victory. And his decision to put out some of his strongest players near the end raised a few eyebrows last night.

The history of rivalry between Faldo and Azinger includes a singles match at the Belfry in 1993, when the two were confronted by each other in the final pairing. The Englishman edged ahead with a hole-in-one at the 14th, was pegged back with a birdie at the next, and watched on the last green as his opponent holed a six-footer for half a point.

The trouble was that the outcome was irrelevant. The US had already won the trophy, thanks to Raymond Floyd’s three birdies on the back nine, and Azinger was annoyed by Faldo’s failure to concede what was a meaningless match. Today, Europe’s captain will be hoping that his better players are not wasted.

Even he would have to admit that the captain’s job is over-rated. The most accomplished and thorough of leaders still find themselves at the mercy of players’ form. Azinger said earlier this week that he had spent two years holding back the bow of his arrow; now it was time to let go, and hope that it flew in the right direction.

A strategy for Sunday afternoon is one of a few specific tasks that have to be performed sensibly. While wild-card selections and pairings for Friday and Saturday are important, the singles is arguably more so, given that 12 points are at stake, nearly half of those available all week. As valuable as three of the previous sessions put together, it has the potential to transform the match’s complexion, as Ben Crenshaw discovered at Brookline in 1999. The Americans were 10-6 down on Saturday night, when George W Bush delivered his Alamo speech, and the American captain decided to front-load his singles order.

Far from a stroke of tactical genius, it was a move forced on him by the scoreline, but it paid off in spectacular fashion. The US won each of their first seven matches, the session by 8Å-3Å and the match by a single, theatrical point. It was a plan popularised by Sam Torrance in 2002, this time when circumstances did not demand it. The teams were locked at eight points apiece on Saturday night, but the Scot took a dramatic gamble by sending them out in order of ability.

Colin Montgomerie led the way with his defeat of Scott Hoch, and although Garcia lost the second match, victories by Bernhard Langer, Padraig Harrington and Thomas Bjorn helped to set up Paul McGinley’s match-winning putt in the ninth pairing. Hoping that his strongest players would not leave his weakest with work to do, Europe’s captain also intended to make the most of momentum, as well as the backing of a home crowd.

Today, Azinger will go with some of his big guns early, which might just pay off, especially in the light of Faldo’s line-up. Ben Curtis and Chad Campbell, two of America’s weaker players, are out in the last two groups, against Westwood and Padraig Harrington respectively, but will it matter by then? Of the two captains, Azinger is closer to the Torrance formula.