Europe's Ryder Cup stars are seeing a new side to Nick Faldo this week as he looks to guide them to a record fourth straight win over the Americans.

Notorious in his playing days for being aloof, single-minded and even dismissive, Faldo has opened up to allow his charges to feed on his huge wealth of experiences in the competition.

England's Paul Casey, one of Faldo's two wildcard picks, says that the six-times major winner has been a relevation at Valhalla Golf Club which will host the competition from Friday.

"I've seen a side of Nick I've never seen before because I've never really been able to sort of get that close to him and talk to him and pick his brains before," he said.

"And you're not really needing to this week, because he's just pouring it out there.

"He's pouring out all of the ideas, he's got sort of all the stuff that he's stored up during the years, and he's now trying to pour it out there to get every ounce out of us to perform well.

"I think he's been a great captain so far."

Casey's comments were echoed by Graeme McDowell, the Ulsterman who is one of four rookies that Faldo must nurture through three days of the most intense competition in front of some 40,000, mostly hostile fans.

McDowell does have one advantage in that he spent years in the United States playing in the collegiate system where he had great success, but he admits he is still looking for all the help he can get.

"I didn't know Nick in the heyday of his playing career," he said.

"He was a bit of a closed book, a bit unapproachable from that point of view. Didn't really give much of his own experiences.

"But I think we all got into the team room here and we're on the edge of our seat a little bit because we are waiting for the next nugget of wisdom that's going to come out of his mouth.

"He's got a lot of stuff in his head and he's been thinking about it long and hard and has had a lot of time to digest this golf course and think about his pairings, think about his team."

Faldo, who is the all-time highest points scorer in the Ryder Cup, will announce his pairings for Friday's opening foursomes on Thursday and he admits that it has been "like a Rubik's Cube."

"It's a constant juggling act," he said. "And I get thoughts at three o'clock in the morning and I'm like, oh, great, here we go.

"But I'm loving it. I'm just going to be on hyper-drive until I collapse."

AFP

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