In the phoney war of words ahead of the real Ryder Cup battle this week, Rory McIlroy last night insisted that Europe’s golfers have all the motivation they need as they aim for an unprecedented fourth straight victory against the USA.

The dominant Europeans have won seven of the last nine meetings between the two sides while Team USA, who adopted a root-and-branch investigative process by forming a Task Force in the wake of a crushing defeat at Gleneagles in 2014, are pinning their hopes on this new approach as they seek a first win since 2008.

With mind games building, Davis Love III, the US skipper, upped the ante on the psychological front last week when he suggested that the Americans had “the best golf team maybe ever assembled”.

In contrast, Johnny Miller, the double major champion who is now a TV analyst, fanned those flames by declaring that Darren Clarke’s European team, which features six newcomers, was, on paper at least, “the worst team they’ve had in years.”

In the fevered environment of high-profile team tussles, these are exactly the kind of phrases that tend to get printed out on paper and plastered up on the changing room wall so players can roar their disapproval at them and, in time honoured tradition, ram the words down the throats of the opposition.

The talking, of course, will stop on Friday when the opening sessions get underway but McIlroy admits the spoutings from the American camp and beyond have only added to the feeling of determination in the European squad. The patriotic surroundings of Hazeltine, all decked out in red and white to rouse the flag-waving masses, has only added to the sense of resolve.

“Anywhere you look, whether it be the sea of red you see on the golf course or the comments made in the media by the US team or the captain, then that gives us so much motivation,” said McIlroy. “It (motivation) is not hard to find.”

Stirring the pot a little, McIlroy added: “Whenever you are going up against one of the greatest teams ever assembled, that’s enough to get you going. So you say, how good a victory would this be if we go out and beat these guys on their home soil? Our team is good and it’s more than ready to handle the occasion and handle what we need to do.”

Clarke, the European captain, played down the hype and a quick recap of his line-up made something of a mockery of the aforementioned Miller’s claim of weakness.

He said: “We have the Masters champion, the Open champion, the Olympic champion and the FedEx champion. I have full confidence in our team.”