Back in Cink after Oakland Hills

THEIR eyes met as the Irishman walked towards the registration cabin and the American chatted with his caddy in the Mount Juliet courtyard.

Immediately the faces broke into grins, as happens when kindred spirits meet after a titanic tussle.

The Irish man stands a mere 5ft 7ins, the American an imposing 6ft 4ins, but the greeting between Paul McGinley and Stewart Cink suggested they might well have been brothers. As they reminisced about their recent Ryder Cup clash at Oakland Hills, which McGinley won by 3&2, you might have mistaken them for team-mates rather than keen rivals on one of golf's biggest days.