Davis Love III backs Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker partnership

US Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III has insisted that he did not take Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker's recent record together into consideration when selecting the pair for Friday's foursomes.

Woods and Stricker have suffered comprehensive defeats to Adam Scott and KJ Choi in the President's Cup and Luke Donald and Lee Westwood in the last Ryder Cup in their previous two outings, but Love III believes that the duo will play well on the opening day of the competition.

Love III said: "They play very well together. I didn't go back and study Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker's record before I put them together.

"They wanted to play together and they have done pretty well together, so I'm going to let them go."

The 2012 Ryder Cup begins at 1.20pm on Friday afternoon.