Sutton Coldfield, England ? A policy on slow play has been introduced for the first time in the Ryder Cup. Maybe it should apply to practice rounds, too.

Tiger Woods and his foursome played only two holes Tuesday when they saw the Europeans chipping and lining up putts on the third green. Instead of waiting, they cut across to the eighth hole, returning later to play the holes they skipped.

Scott Hoch of the United States hits from the sand on the 17th hole Tuesday at The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, England.

“I asked the rest of the guys in the group, ‘What do you want to do?’ And they all wanted to play at their own pace,” said Woods, who practiced with Mark Calcavecchia, Stewart Cink and Paul Azinger.

“We play at a faster pace, plain and simple,” Woods said. “We don’t chip around as much. I saw Bernhard (Langer) and the guys lining up putts on the third hole. We definitely don’t do that, especially on a Tuesday.”

Sergio Garcia, who was in the European group that was passed on a mild and sunny day at The Belfry, wasn’t concerned about the pace of play.

“We don’t need to hurry. We have all day to practice,” Garcia said. “Just enjoy the day. You’re not going to get many like this.”

U.S. captain Curtis Strange wasn’t surprised. His lead foursome tends to play quickly, and that’s why he put them out first.

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Pairings take shape: Strange gave a good idea on his pairings for the opening best-ball matches Friday.

Tiger Woods was with Mark Calcavecchia. David Duval played with Davis Love III. Phil Mickelson played with David Toms. Scott Hoch played with Jim Furyk.

“Practice rounds are very important, and I think you should play with who I think you might play with in the matches,” Strange said. “There’s an agenda out there today.”

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Forgetful Sam: European captain Sam Torrance was asked how the lineup he expects to field for Friday’s opening matches compares to the one he had ready for the competition that was postponed last year.

“Impossible to say,” Torrance said. “I actually couldn’t find them.”

Torrance said he had last year’s pairings written down and hid them away somewhere. Trouble was, he hid them so good he couldn’t find them.

“I’m very good at hiding things and I spent three days looking for it, and I couldn’t find it,” Torrance said.