'Hits home' - Shane Lowry feeling 'quite emotional' as family messages relayed before Ryder Cup

The 2023 Ryder Cup is two days away as Team Europe and Team USA are preparing to go to battle at Rome's Marco Simone Golf and Country Club.

Europe’s Ryder Cup captain Luke Donald has cranked up the emotion in the team room this week by bringing his players to tears but it is all part of the plan to get his stars ready to regain the trophy from the United States.

The tactic of having messages from family relayed in meetings during the build-up has been well used in the past by both sides and while the videos tug at the heartstrings, they are used as a tool to help boost confidence and reinforce the reasons for their presence in Italy this week.

"It’s an emotional week and even some of the stuff that’s happened already this week would get you quite emotional," said Offaly man Shane Lowry.

"There’s videos that are played in the team rooms in the evenings, motivational videos and it just kind of hits home a little bit.

"I’m not going to elaborate much further than that, but Luke and his team have done a great job already this week on Monday and Tuesday."

Lowry added: "I think being a part of something that is bigger than you or anything else is pretty cool, and I think Whistling Straits was hard to take. But it was quite motivating for me coming away from that, and it's quite motivating for me this week.

"I'm looking forward to going out there and hopefully earning some points for Europe, and hopefully we can all do a great job at trying to win the trophy back."