Sergio Garcia (right) with Nick Faldo before the start on Friday

Louisville: The 2008 European Ryder Cup team, the three-time defending champions, have five players from England, two each from Spain and Sweden, and one from Denmark, Ireland and Northern Ireland. They are diverse not just in their nationalities, but in their backgrounds and interests.

Spain’s Miguel Ángel Jiménez grew up as a caddie. The Englishmen Justin Rose and Lee Westwood played cricket. Their countryman Ian Poulter has a thing for pink and designs his own clothing line. Graeme McDowell of Northern Ireland loves a good game of snooker. Sweden’s Henrik Stenson lives in Dubai. Sergio García, man of the world, dates supermodels and, occasionally, famous athletes.

And what of the United States Ryder Cup team?

They are 12 polite and persevering men, many with similar American country club backgrounds. Their ascents to the heights of professional golf are comparable. So, for the most part, are their accents. They tend to live in gated golf communities. And while their preferred golf-ball flight may drift right or left, their political leanings usually do not. American pro golfers are notoriously conservative.

The American team’s idea of an eccentric is Thomas Brent Weekley, son of a Florida pharmacist and a registered nurse. Weekley, whose nickname is Boo, uses a lot of folksy metaphors in a Southern twang. He also grew up on a fairly typical American cul-de-sac, then went to college.

With Europe victorious in five of the last six Ryder Cups, there has been considerable deliberation given to what advantages the European golfers possess. Among the questions: Is the European team’s diversity its strength?

“There’s probably something to be said for the bonding of different cultures that happens when our team gets together for the Ryder Cup,” said Padraig Harrington, son of a Dublin policeman, who has won two major titles this year. “I know the Americans do the same thing, but ours is a pretty lively team room during that Ryder Cup week.”

It has been said that the vagaries of the European Tour, which is really a worldwide tour, helps bring the Europeans together.