By John Mathews BBC Sport at Oakland Hills

Riley (right) had an anxious wait on the opening tee

US rookie Chris Riley has delighted everyone with his fresh-faced, happy-go-lucky enthusiasm this week.

So it was a surprise to hear him speaking in hushed tones of dread.

"My knees were about to buckle if I stood over it any longer... I had to pull the trigger," he said.

What was he describing? How he put a road-kill raccoon out of its misery by the side of Interstate 75?

No, teeing off in the 35th Ryder Cup.

If anything can be gleaned from the fashion statements made by the teams on the opening day, it would have to be the Europeans have a slightly better dress sense... so far.

With a team containing the scandalously flamboyant Ian Poulter, it came as a relief to see the Europeans dressed smartly and soberly in light grey polo shirts, black trousers and black sweaters.

Patriotic to the last, the United States were resplendent in vaguely blue polo shirts with horizontal red and white pinstripes.

The shirts were adorned with a large star-spangled banner flag on the back, which was fine of course, but who told them these shirts would go with light grey sweaters and trousers?

Somebody needs to have a word.

Chris DiMarco shows he's the man

The European fans like nothing better than having a man they love to hate on the United States Ryder Cup team.

At one time it was Corey Pavin in his camouflage baseball cap at Kiawah Island in 1991, then Tom Lehman and Justin Leonard emerged as the heirs to his title after events at Brookline in 1999.

Keep a watching brief on Chris DiMarco at Oakland Hills this weekend.

He seems a nice enough fella, but it's the yee-haw, clenched-fist pumps that tend to turn these players into pantomime villains among the viewing public in the UK.