THE secret weapon in Europe's Ryder Cup bid was unmasked yesterday.

The figure of Sir Alex Ferguson marching across the Gleneagles turf rather undermined the attempt by Paul McGinley, the European captain, to surprise his players last night with a mystery motivational speaker.

"The one thing he asked me to do was to keep it really quiet," said McGinley of Sir Alex's reaction at being asked to address the Ryder Cup team. The Irishman, unfortunately, was speaking to the world's press at the time.

The secret weapon was thus, yet again, at the forefront of a sporting event. Sir Alex, 72, has engaged in a number of activities since retiring as Manchester United manager in 2013, including a teaching post at Harvard University.

Last night in Gleneagles Hotel he addressed the 12 members of the European team as they seek to retain the Ryder Cup under pressure from a USA team hurt by the extraordinary defeat at Medinah, near Chicago, two years ago.

McGinley, who met Sir Alex 15 years ago at a pro-am tournament in Ireland, said he had approached the Govan graduate for help after he had been named captain.

"He was more than willing to help," he said. "The one thing he asked me to do was to keep it really quiet. I asked everyone to keep it quiet. We wanted a bit of a surprise for the players. But I guess it is not a surprise."

He said "there were a number of reasons" he chose Sir Alex to speak to his players. "I'm a West Ham fan but I have always loved the way his teams played," he said. "I have met him a number of times over the past few months. The more I have met him, the more there was such a natural fit."

McGinley said Sir Alex was "a big fan of golf and knows Rory [McIlroy] very well". However, he pointed out not everybody in his team was a Manchester United fan "so that should be a bit of fun".

He added: "This is not him being a headmaster and coming in and preaching to them. This is about fun."

The captain of Europe also emphasised it was not unusual for inspirational speakers to address the team, pointing out Gareth Edwards, the legendary scrum half, had spoken at Celtic Manor in 2010 and Pep Guardiola, the former manager of Barcelona and now at the helm of Bayern Munich, spoke to the team at Medinah.

Former president George Bush senior gave a pep talk to the US team on the Saturday night of the 1997 Ryder Cup at Valderrama, but Europe still won. His son George W Bush spoke to them again at Brookline in 1999, before he became president. Mr Bush read William Barret Travis's letter from a besieged Alamo with the powerful kicker: "Victory or death."

Sir Alex, too, is no stranger to helping sportsmen in other fields. He has formed a friendship with Andy Murray, who was first introduced to him after the Dunblane player's defeat in the Wimbledon final of 2012 to Roger Federer. He formed such a bond with the ex- football manager that he had him in the player's box when he won the US Open just months later.

Sir Alex also came into the locker room after Murray had beaten Fernando Verdasco in five sets at Wimbledon 2013. Murray later spoke of the meeting that preceded his defeat of Jerzy Janowicz in the semi-final and Novak Djokovic in the final.

"Getting that sort of advice from someone like him is gold dust so I'm not going to be sharing too much of it," said Murray.

McGinley will hope last night's speech will be of similar value as his side seeks to retain a Ryder Cup they have won seven times out of the nine past occasions.

l Tourism chiefs are to light up the SSE Hydro in Glasgow, the Kelpies in Falkirk and Edinburgh Airport Tower in gold ahead of the Ryder Cup Gala Concert at the Hydro tonight. Midge Ure will perform along with Texas, Amy MacDonald and Nile Rodgers and both teams will be presented on stage at the Hydro.